DURANT, Okla. – Two big innings doomed the Tarleton TexAnn softball team at the 2010 Lone Star Conference Softball Championships in Durant, Okla. as Tarleton fell twice Thursday to be knocked out the postseason tournament.
The TexAnns lost 11-2 in five innings to No. 3 Midwestern State before falling 4-1 to Southeastern Oklahoma in game two. With the two losses, Tarleton was pushed out of the double-elimination event.
The TexAnns were tied at 0-0 with the Mustangs until MSU scored nine runs in the bottom of the third inning thanks in part to a grand slam. Each team scored two runs through the final two innings, but the run-rule was in effect, and the TexAnns fell to the loser's bracket.
Tarleton then faced Southeastern Oklahoma in the second game and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning. However, a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth put the Savage Storm on top 4-1, and Tarleton went three-up, three-down in the top of the seventh end its season 23-27 overall.
Julie Norris pitched both games for the TexAnns and had retired six straight in the first game when MSU put the next nine batters on base – all of which came around to score, including the grand slam by Amanda Reynolds. The Mustangs added two unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth frame.
Tarleton's runs came on a run batted in single by Brandie Simmons that scored Victoria Kelly while Brittany Terry scored on a fielder's choice hit by Megan Eldridge.
Norris walked one and struck out three in the game against the Mustangs and allowed 11 runs – nine earned – on 10 hits.
In the second game of the day, Norris allowed just one base runner through the first three innings and four all together through the first five before a walk, a fielder's choice and a walk loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth. Erika Bernal then put one just beyond the left field fence for the winning grand slam that put the Savage Storm on top 4-1.
The TexAnns' lone run of the game came when Simmons doubled with one out in the top of the fifth frame. An error by the third baseman on the catch allowed Simmons to score from second as she rounded third on the contact by Eldridge. That run gave the TexAnns a 1-0 lead, but when trailing 4-1 in the top of the seventh, Tarleton couldn't get on the board and was knocked out of the tournament.
Norris gave up just three hits and four runs – three earned. She struck out three and walked two.
The TexAnns finish the season at the program's 10th LSC Championship Tournament, and the softball team handed head coach Julie Mata her 400th career victory during the season in her 14th year at the helm of the purple and white.
