REPLAY | PHOTOS

LONGVIEW – It's a place that's meant a lot to Hana Bonner these last four years.
 
"This field means a lot to me," LeTourneau's senior third baseman said after going 1-for-2 in her final game at LETU Softball Field. "I just go out there and play for the person next to me, and hope to get the win."
 
That the YellowJackets did on Senior Weekend, beating the University of Texas at Dallas, 7-2, Sunday to capture their fourth series victory of the season.
 
"My hats off to UTD. They're playing harder," LETU head coach Stan Wells said. "Just for us to come out here with a series victory is well earned. I think it kind of epitomizes what we've done this year, coming back from the injuries we've had. Starting to play better, had a couple of kids step up who weren't starting at the first of the year. It's really turned our program into a fighting team that nobody really wants to play, especially when 14 is pitching."
 
Speaking of 14, the victory was the YellowJackets' 14^th of the season. And No. 14 Bailey Richey helped set it up with a win in the circle.
 
Richey (9-2) won both games in the series – the second time she's done so this season. She went the distance Sunday, scattering four hits, and giving up two runs and a walk to go along with her five strikeouts. It was her eighth complete game of the season as she lowered her earned run average to 2.08.
 
"One thing Bailey's improved on this year is if she gets a second start (in a series), she's much stronger than she's been in the past," Wells said. "I think that was a big help, her being able to throw two complete games in the series."
 
It didn't hurt that her offense picked her up with four runs in the third inning, and three more in the sixth to put the Comets (7-24, 5-19 American Southwest Conference) away. Mickenzie Murry had a two-run single to right with the bases loaded in the third to spot the Jackets a 2-0 lead. Katelyn Trombley followed with another two-run base knock to right, extending the lead to 4-0.
 
UT Dallas finally produced an earned run off Richey on the weekend when Megan Todd hit her fourth home run of the season to left center to make it a three-run ballgame. Nicole Peters' sacrifice fly in the sixth cut the lead in half.
 
The Jackets' bats came alive again in the sixth as Hunter Handley singled to right to drive in a pair. Emilee Anderson, who went 2-for-3, had a sacrifice fly to center to score Bonner, stretching the YellowJackets' lead to five.
 
"I told them when the game was over, it was a one-word description of what the game was like, it was 'workman-like,'" Wells said. "We did what we were supposed to do. Bailey pitched it well, good enough to win, and the bats did come alive, especially in two innings where we got some crooked numbers going. That's what you've got to have."
 
What the YellowJackets (14-12, 13-11) had was everything working in their favor in the final home game of the season. Trombley, who recorded her 100th career hit in the series, went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Murry was 1-for-4 with two RBI. Handley went 1-for-2 with two RBI.
 
Now they'll take the momentum into the final regular season series at rival and fourth-ranked East Texas Baptist Friday and Saturday in Marshall, Texas.
 
"It means pretty much everything to continue our playoff dream to try and win conference," said Bonner, who hit safely in all three games in the series. "Everybody's beatable. We proved that when we beat Belhaven, so I think we just go in there, being confident in ourselves."