STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton rode the arms of Tristan Bridges and Reagan Chism to a doubleheader sweep of Abilene Christian Friday night.
Game 1: Tarleton 2, Abilene Christian 1
Two of the best arms in the WAC Southwest Division squared off in the series opener between Tarleton and Abilene Christian Friday night and they were equally as good as advertised.
Bridges (10-7) and the Texans edged out Sidney Holman-Mansell (11-12) and the Wildcats 2-1 to take the opener.
The tale of Tristan begins in the opening frame when she set the tone early with a pair of runners on and one away. She battled back to get a swinging strikeout and then Katy Schaefer ended the inning.
After a flawless second, Brady Rowland shot down the hopes of an ACU run in the third with a two-out strike to third base to catch the ACU centerfield on the basepaths. Rowland’s arm was on full display in the fourth inning as well. After a one-out double, ACU singled into left and the throw home held the runner at third but the batter was hosed at second by Rowland trying to take the extra base. Bridges got a soft liner to shortstop to escape the jam.
Bridges surrendered four singles and a solo home run over the final three innings, allowing one run on nine hits and three strikeouts. She moved into No. 8 all-time at Tarleton with 282 career strikeouts, passing A.J. Bristow.
The Tarleton offense got the scoring started in the third when pinch-hitter Paige Nunes doubled to lead off the inning and Hallie Saintignan ripped an RBI single through a drawn-in infield. A crucial insurance run came across in the fifth when Schaefer beat out a fielder’s choice that turned a potential inning-ending double play into what would turn out to be the game-winning RBI fielder’s choice.
Morgan Medford and Saintignan had two hits each for Tarleton while Amanda DeSario, Austin Germain, and Nunes had one each for Tarleton.
Game 2: Tarleton 4, Abilene Christian 1
The WAC Pitcher of the Week Chism did her thing in the circle once again as Chism spun a gem and the Texans took the second game of the twin bill 4-1 to complete the doubleheader sweep and take the series ahead of tomorrow’s finale.
Amanda DeSario sparked the game two offense with a one-out triple into the right-center gap. After Georgia Capell was hit by a pitch and stole second, Schaefer reached on an error and two runs crossed the plate for Tarleton. Germain tacked on one more with an RBI double down the rightfield line to give the Texans a 3-0 lead.
Tarleton pushed another run across in the fourth. Mackenzie Peterson and Medford were on the corners with one out. Amanda DeSario had a grounder up the middle and a diving play from ACU turned it into an RBI fielder’s choice.
Abilene Christian managed an RBI double in the sixth, but had very little success against Chism. The sophomore from Decatur twirled a gem from the circle. She went all seven innings, allowing one run on five hits and striking out three.
Medford and Germain led the team with two hits each while DeSario, Capell, Bella Hernandez, Tristyn Trull, and Mackenzie Peterson had one hit each.
Be the first to comment