HOUSTON – Behind a Division I era record for most runs in a game, the East Texas A&M University softball team took down the Houston Christian Huskies, 15-1, in five innings on Saturday afternoon at the Husky Field and clinched the first postseason trip in the Division I era.
With the five-inning win over the Huskies, the Lions improved to 10-40 on the season and finished Southland Conference play with a record of 6-21. The 10 overall wins and six wins in conference play are both the most for the Lions in the Division I era.
The Lions and A&M-Corpus Christi tied for eighth place in the Southland standings after the completion of the regular season. The Lions won all three games in the series over the Islanders to win the tiebreaker and booked a spot into the eight-team Southland Conference tournament.
East Texas A&M will learn of its opponents and location of the bracket-play portion of the SLC Tournament following the completion of all other games around the Southland on Sunday. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will host four-team brackets next Thursday-Sunday, with the winners advancing to the Championship Series the following weekend.
Houston Christian fell to 17-31 overall and 10-17 in Southland play and will be the seventh seed in next week's SLC Tournament.
After using a double play to work around a one-out single in the bottom of the first, the Lions plated four in the second.
Charli Anger (Lubbock – Cooper) singled to center to lead off the inning, followed by a bunt single from
Emmie Miehe (Cameron Park, Calif.). Both runners advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt by
Darby Hickey (Plano Senior) and
Maddie Cason (Honey Grove) drew a walk to load the bases.
The first Lion run scored on a single up the middle by
Emma Rodrigues (Little Elm – John Paul II) as the bases remained loaded. After the Huskies forced an out at home on a ground ball with
Isabella Arzola (Chino, Calif.) reaching on the fielder's choice,
Tatum Wright (Frisco – Centennial) cleared the bases with a three-run double to right, plating Arzola, Rodrigues, and Cason.
The Lions worked around a leadoff double by the Huskies in the bottom of the second with three fly outs to left in a row and added two more in the top of the third.
Aaliyah Wilcox (Covington, Ga.) drew a walk, and Anger advanced her to second on a sacrifice bunt. Wilcox advanced to third on a wild pitch and came around to score as Miehe reached on a fielder's choice. Hickey plated Miehe on a double down the right field line.
In the bottom of the third, Haylie Savage drilled a solo home run to right, the only run of the afternoon for the Huskies.
With an out in the top of the fourth, Wright singled up the middle,
Stephanie Tapia (Yuma, Ariz.) and Wilcox drew walks to load the bases.
Lexi Gamez (Orange, Calif.) came in as a pinch runner for Wilcox and
Nevaeh Terrell (Pennsauken, N.J.) pinch ran for Tapia.
Anger plated Wright with a single to center, while Miehe drew a walk to bring home Terrell. After the Huskies' second pitching change of the inning, Hickey singled to left, plating Gamez. Cason drew a walk as well with the bases loaded, driving home Anger. The Huskies used a double play to end the inning.
Arzola walked to lead off the top of the fifth and Wright doubled to center as Arzola scored. Tapia followed with a single up the middle as Wright scored and Tapia advanced to second on the throw and she advanced to third as Wilcox reached on a fielder's choice.
After a popout, Miehe plated Tapia on an RBI groundout. Hickey continued the inning as she singled to center and advanced to second on the throw as Wilcox advanced to third. Both Wilcox and Hickey scored on a single to third by Cason. The 15 runs scored by the Lions are the most in a game since moving up to Division I.
The Huskies went down in order in the fifth and fall to 2-7 against the Lions over the last three years. HCU was limited to just four hits in the game.
FINAL OUT HIGHLIGHT
Offensively for the Lions, they had 14 hits, including three for extra bases. Hickey went 3 for 3, while Wright went 3 for 4 and both Rodrigues and Anger had two hits each in the game.
Julia Sanchez (The Kinkaid School) went the distance in the circle for the Lions, allowing just the home run to Savage and collected two strikeouts. She tossed 12 innings in the series and allowed just two earned runs.
HCU used three pitchers in the game with Leah Hammack being charged for the loss and nine earned runs.
-ETAMU-
