STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State is good at home, like 7-1 good. The Texans (13-18, 1-3 WAC) secured their seventh home win of the season under the lights Friday night with a 7-5 win over the Mavericks of UT Arlington (10-18, 1-2 WAC).
The Purple and White scored four in the bottom of the third in response to the Mavericks’ two-spot in the top half of the inning and never looked back. The Texans are now a perfect 4-0 over UT Arlington.
“I’m proud of how we came out and fought today,” said head coach Mark Cumpian. “We played with purpose and we were locked in from first to last pitch. We will need to be locked in again tomorrow if we want to win this series.”
The first two innings saw zeros on the board for both teams before UT Arlington got the scoring started. The Mavericks put two on the board quickly as fifth-year Lindsey Franklin homered to left bringing in Camille Corona who reached on a bunt single.
In the Texans half of the third, Tarleton State doubled up on UTA putting up a four-spot to take a 4-2 lead after three and never looked back. The scoring got started as Katy Schaefer reached on a fielder’s choice and Kelci Hill scored while Tristyn Trull moved to third.
Austin Germain singled up the middle scoring Trull tying things up at 2-2. The Texans then took the lead off the bat of Bella Hernandez who singled up the middle scoring Germain. Hernandez entered the game pinching hitting for Ashlee LaRue in the third who got the start in right field.
The fourth and final run of the third came as Jordan Dickerson reached on a fielder’s choice as the Texans moved from base to base and Brady Rowland came in from third to score making it 4-2 Tarleton State.
The Mavericks went quietly in the top of the fourth before the Texans tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the frame. Schaefer, who is third all-time in program history for home runs (35), cemented her spot even more blasting another one out of the park to give the Texans the 5-2 lead. She is now just six away from tying Arianna Rodriguez (41, 2010-13) for second all-time.
In the bottom half of the fifth Tarleton State once again added an insurance run making it 6-2 Texans. Dickerson singled scoring Hannah Reed who entered the game to pinch run for Brady Rowland who reached with a single to left field.
The Mavericks made things interesting in the top of the sixth scoring three making it 6-5 Texans. Morgan Westbrook came up big for UTA as she hit a bases clearing double to left center (her first of the season) scoring three for the road team. Corona then grounded out to first base ending the threat of a comeback.
The Purple and White once again added a single run, this time in the bottom of the sixth. This marked the final run for either team as the Texans secured three outs in the top of the seventh earning their first WAC win of the season. The one run in the bottom of the sixth came as the Mavericks walked Dickerson with the bases loaded scoring Schaefer making it 7-5.
Junior transfer Kynlee Marquez (2-4) went nearly the distance going 6.0 IP and picked up her second win of the season. She gave up five runs on nine hits, struck out one as well as walked one. Fellow junior transfer Alexa Rehmeier finished things off for the Texans going 1.0 inning posting zeros across the board and earning her first save of the season.
The Mavericks starter Jessica Adams (4-6) took the loss as she went 5.0 innings before she was pulled. She gave up six runs (five earned) on 11 hits, striking out two and walking three. Jade Moreno went the final inning giving up one run on one hit, striking out one and walking two.
The Texans will look for the series win on Saturday as the two teams will meet once again at the Tarleton Softball Complex for matchups at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Both games will air live on ESPN+ as well as live stats will be available.
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