Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 STEPHENVILLE – A three-run homer from Erika Menchaca in the sixth turned the game around for Tarleton and Randi Fentress locked down her first career save in her final career game at the TSU Softball Complex to lift Tarleton to a 7-5 win over No. 23 Texas Woman's Thursday night.
  
Despite bringing the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, Tarleton couldn't complete the rally as they dropped a game one slugfest against No. 23 Texas Woman's – falling 9-6 on an overcast, misty afternoon.
 
The Pioneers scored first with an unearned run in the top of the second, but the TexAnns answered with a three-spot in the bottom of the third – scoring two on a 2-RBI triple by Melody Mayse and the third on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Wells for a 3-1 Tarleton advantage.
 
After a scoreless fourth, TWU clawed closer with a run in the fifth to make it 3-2 but Tarleton's Erika Menchaca answered the call with a solo blast in the bottom of the fifth to push the TexAnn lead back to two runs at 4-2.
 
Texas Woman's took the lead in the ensuing half inning with five runs in the top of the sixth, highlighted by a three-run home run to right field for a 7-4 lead.
 
Tarleton cut into the deficit in the bottom of the sixth when a two-out error allowed Mikayla Stogsdill to come home for a 7-5 score. The Pioneers, however, did add two more in the top of the seventh for a 9-5 advantage.
 
The TexAnns refused to go quietly into the night, however, as three straight singles to open the seventh plated a run and had the tying run at the dish with no outs. That was all Tarleton could do as three straight strikeouts ended the rally.
 
Randi Fentress took the loss despite going the distance for the 18^th time this season. The senior allowed nine runs – seven earned and eight in the final three innings – on 12 hits and three walks but did strikeout 10 batters.
 
Tarleton had nine hits on the day with Mayse and Menchaca earning two each while Stogsdill, Kelsey Latta, Katelyn Conlee, Amber Clifford and Wells had the rest of Tarleton's hits for the game.
  
A three-run home run by Erika Menchaca in the sixth inning turned a 3-2 Tarleton deficit into a 5-3 Tarleton advantage in a hurry and propelled the TexAnns to a win in the series finale Thursday night.
 
The Pioneers got to Tarleton starter, Brenna Hennan, early on with three quick runs in the opening frame but the TexAnns answered right back in the bottom of the first when Conlee drove an RBI double off the left field wall to plate Stogsdill.
 
After the first inning, neither team was able to get any offense rolling until the bottom of the sixth when Tarleton made some noise.
 
Latta opened the inning with a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line before another line drive off the left field wall by Conlee put runners on second and third with no outs.
 
The TexAnns plated Latta on a dropped fly ball to center field made it a 3-2 game and left runners on the corners with one away. A grounder to the pitcher advanced the go-ahead run to second with two away.
 
On a 2-2 count, Erika Menchaca blasted off to deep left center field for her second home run of the doubleheader as her three-run bomb gave Tarleton – and Hennan – their first lead of the game at 5-3. Menchaca entered Thursday's doubleheader with two home runs all season.
 
"Erika has been just slightly off for the last several games and she's made some corrections in the cage and it paid off tonight," said head coach Julie Mata.
 
The TexAnns weren't done in the sixth as Latta, who led off the inning with a bunt single, ripped a two-out, two-run double through the left side to make it 7-3.
 
The Pioneers got a lead-off single in the seventh but Hennan worked around it with a runner's interference and a backhanded force out at second by Stogsdill for a quick two outs but Texas Woman's loaded the bases and pushed two across to chase Hennan from the game after six and two-thirds.
 
Fentress came in from the bullpen and struck out Amanda Ruiz looking to lock down her first career save at Tarleton.
 
"I'm so happy for Randi," said Mata. "Game one didn't go the way she would have liked for her last home game to end and for her to come in and get a bases-loaded strikeout was pretty amazing. We missed not having Bailee and Eryn with us, but it was nice to get a win like this for our seniors – Randi and Kelsey."
 
Hennan got the win after going 6.2 innings allowing five runs – four earned – nine hits and five walks with a pair of strikeouts. For Fentress, the looking strikeout was the 11^th of the twin bill for the senior pitcher who had 10 in her game one start.
 
Tarleton got two hits each from the top three hitters in the lineup – Stogsdill, Latta and Conlee – while Menchaca's bomb and a single from Lauren Grisham rounded out the Tarleton offense.
 
The TexAnns will be on the road next weekend for the final series of the regular season when they visit Midwestern State on April 25.