BELTON, Texas – The Southwestern University Pirates softball team split its doubleheader against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders, winning the first game 4-3 and losing the second 9-1 in five innings.
Game 1 – Southwestern 4, Mary Hardin-Baylor 3
Kaitlynn Copher drew a walk with bases loaded in the top of the seventh to break a 3-3 tie, scoring Jessey Nunez to give the Pirates the lead and Southwestern pitcher Lindsey Longuet retired the side in the bottom of the inning, striking out two to preserve the victory.
Longuet went all seven innings in the pitcher's circle, striking out 11 with only one walk while giving up four hits and three earned runs to improve to 3-2 this season.
With the game scoreless through three-and-a-half innings, the Crusaders broke the scoring drought in the bottom of the fourth, getting a leadoff home run from Allie Dalle and a two-out, RBI infield single to Hannah Wolfe to score Elissa Elliott for the 2-0 lead.
The Pirates answered with a three-run blast from Sydney Scott, scoring Andrea Hern and Nunez, who reached on a fielder's choice and walk.
Mary Hardin-Baylor tied the game on an RBI from Lexi Harris, scoring Milly Cesare.
After both teams went scoreless in the sixth inning, the Pirates loaded the bases on error, single, and walk, setting up Copher's game-winning RBI walk with two outs.
Game 2 – Mary Hardin-Baylor 9, Southwestern 1
Mary Hardin-Baylor bounced back with eight hits in Game 2, scoring nine runs to defeat Southwestern University 9-1.
The Pirates struggled against Crusaders' pitcher Bayleigh Grogan (3-0), stringing together just three hits and four walks for a single earned run.
Korbyn Bassett put the Crusaders with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second inning and Lexi Harris hit a two-RBI double to center field, scoring Milly Cesare and Whitney Flournoy to give Mary Hardni-Baylor a 3-0 lead.
Kaitlynn Copher hit an RBI-single to left field in the top of the third, scoring Andrea Hern, who reached on a leadoff single to right field.
The Crusaders plated another run in the bottom of the third on a Flournoy RBI-single, scoring Taygan Landrey, who was pinch running for Bassett after the latter reached on a single to left field.
Southwestern struggled with control problems in the bottom of the fourth, walking five consecutive batters, throwing a wild pitch, and compounding its troubles with a throwing error. Cesare and Ashley Estrad closed the inning out with back-to-back RBI singles to help the Crusaders score five runs on two hits with one error in the inning.
After the doubleheader, the Pirates are 7-3 on the season, including 5-3 on the road. The Pirates will open up conference play with a three-game road series against Trinity this weekend, playing a single game on Saturday, Feb. 29 and a doubleheader on Sunday, March 1.