Lady Wildcats Lose Doubleheader at UTD

4/21/2017 10:22:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Louisiana College Lady Wildcats softball team were swept in the first two games of their final weekend series of the season on Friday night by the University of Texas at Dallas. The Wildcats were downed in game one of the day 6-4 and could not produce any offense in the night cap falling 2-0, getting shut out for the second time this season. LC will wrap up regular season play on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against UTD before beginning play in the American Southwest Conference Tournament next Thursday afternoon.

Game 1

The game started off strong for the Lady Wildcats as they took the lead just three batters into the game. Shelby Bergeron reached on an infield bunt single to start the game, stole second, her 30th of the season, and moved to third on a bunt single from Sami Walters. The Wildcats leading RBI batter, Mattie Stine, delivered once again and brought Bergeron in on a sacrifice fly to center to put LC on top 1-0 in the first inning.

The lead didn't last long for the Wildcats though as a 2-run home run on the first pitch of the at-bat to the Comets clean-up hitter went over the right field wall and gave them the lead 2-1. After a scoreless second inning, the Wildcats answered with a big fly of their own, as once again it was Mattie Stine driving in two more runs on a no-doubter to right field to put LC back on top mid way through the third, 3-2.

Just as they did in the first inning, the Comets answered the Wildcats runs with some of their own. The third 2-run home run of the game put UTD back on top and brought Chelsea Lewis into the game for LC out of the bullpen. The Comets added a third run in the inning on a 2-out throwing error that allowed a run to come in from third on a play that would have ended the inning.

In the fifth inning, the Wildcats used some aggressive base running to steal a run back as Kourtney Leblanc purposefully got caught in a run down between first and second that allowed Walters to score from third, cutting the deficit to one at 5-4. The Comets, however, once again answered the Wildcats run, scoring on another throwing error to push the lead back to two.

The Wildcats were primed to extend the game, loading the bases with no one out in the inning. On a full count pitch, freshman short stop Taylor Hammock grounded into a 1-2-3 double play giving the Comets two outs, but still the tying run in scoring position at second. Pinch hitter Morgan Wampler was unable to come through for the Wildcats, grounding out to third to end the game.

The Wildcats out hit the Comets nine to six in the game, but eight of the nine hits came from the first four batters in the LC order. Sami Walters went a perfect 4-for-4 in the game, scoring two runs, and Mattie Stine went 1-for-2 with three RBI on a home run and a sacrifice fly. Taylor Leger pitched 2.1 innings and suffered her second loss of the season, allowing four runs on three hits with two strikeouts. Chelsea Lewis pitched 2.2 innings allowing two unearned runs on three hits.

Game 2

After 10 combined runs and 15 hits in the first game of the day, game two was controlled by the pitchers throughout. The teams combined to score just two runs on five total hits. Unfortunately for the Wildcats the two runs came on one swing of the bat in the bottom of the third as the Comets hit their third 2-run home run of the day.

The home run in the third was just the second hit by either team in the game, after a leadoff single to start the inning. The Wildcats didn't get their first hit until the top of the fifth on an infield single by Jordan Mason. LC only had three batter reach in the game, the Mason single in the fifth, which was followed by a walk to Morgan Dennis, and a base hit from Taylor Hammock in the top of the seventh.

Savannah Settle and Chelsea Lewis each pitched 3.0 innings in the game, with Settle taking another tough loss, allowing two runs on two hits with five strikeouts. Lewis threw the final three innings, holding the Comets to just one hit, and facing one over the minimum.

The Wildcats will play their final regular season game Saturday against UTD starting at 1 p.m. The doubleheader loss to the Comets drops LC to 24-14 and 18-11 on the season and locks them into the #5 seed in the conference tournament. They will face the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on the first day of the tournament next Thursday in Tyler, Texas. Stay connected to Louisiana College softball by following @LC_sftball or @LC_Wildcats on Twitter or liking LC Athletics on Facebook.

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