LeTourneau University

 

 

The LeTourneau University softball team swept a doubleheader from UT Dallas, winning game one, 5-3 and the nightcap, 12-4 in five innings. The doubleheader sweep gives the YellowJackets its second series win against American Southwest Conference foes.

LeTourneau (6-11, 4-8 ASC) hands UT Dallas its first two losses of conference play with the sweep. The YellowJacket offense had 10 and a season-high 14 hits in the two games. LETU junior Courtney Matulis broke out of a 0-for-15 sleep with three hits and two runs scored in game one and two hits and two runs scored in the nightcap.

The Comets (10-7, 7-2 ASC) Melissa Livermore had two hits and two runs scored in game one and a hit, run and RBI in the nightcap to lead UT Dallas.

LeTourneau quickly built a 5-0 lead in game one, scoring three times in the first inning – two of which came in on a two-RBI double by senior Megan Hill and the other run came in on a solo home run by senior Brianna Williams.

The YellowJackets added a run each in the second and fourth inning to give a five-run cushion to senior starter Kayla Cosby. The Comets rallied with a run each in the final three innings for the final margin.

Cosby finished the afternoon, pitching her fifth complete game to even her record at .500 with a 4-4 mark. She surrendered just eight hits – all singles and struck out one in the win. Joining Matulis in the 10-hit attack was senior Megan Hill, who had two hits for her ninth multi-hit game of the season.

In the nightcap, the YellowJackets erased an early 2-0 deficit to win 12-4 in five innings. To erase the deficit, LeTourneau had a season-high 14 hits including three by freshman Kennedi Dillow and senior Brianna Williams. Plus, Williams and Dillow scored three and two times, respectively for LETU.

LeTourneau took its first lead of the doubleheader when they capitalized on a UT Dallas error in the third inning, scoring Williams and Hill. A wild pitch in the fourth inning plated two more to stretch the lead to 5-2. Back-to-back doubles by Williams and sophomore Bailey Woodard extended the lead to 7-2 for the YellowJackets in the fourth inning.

UT Dallas scored twice in the fifth to make it 7-4 before Hill put the YellowJackets back on the scoreboard when she emptied the bases on a double to score three for a 10-4 lead in the LETU half of the inning. Despite Hill being thrown out at third trying to make it a triple, the YellowJackets quickly had runners back on base as junior pinch hitter Kaitlyn Allen and Williams put runners on second and third with two out for Woodard. The sophomore catcher from Paris, Texas drove in her second and third runs of the afternoon with a double to the left field to end the contest.

In relief, LETU sophomore pitcher Ashley Burdine picked up the win, pitching the final 3.1 innings, allowing just two hits, two runs – both earned and a strikeout for her first win of the season.

The next contest for the YellowJackets is a trip to Austin, Texas to face Concordia. The series starts on Friday with a doubleheader at 4:00 p.m.