HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Grand slams in each game powered the Texan offense in a return to dominant form as Tarleton swept Friday's doubleheader at Sam Houston by a combined score of 20-1.
Game 1: Tarleton 8, Sam Houston 0
A trio of freshman in the Texan lineup sparked an eight-run explosion in the fourth inning to support another
Tristan Bridges gam in the circle as Tarleton won their fourth straight against Sam Houston and the first of the series 8-0 in five innings.
Both teams traded goose eggs for the first three innings with Tarleton getting only two singles from
Brady Rowland and
Morgan Medford. The Bearkats led off the game with a single, but it was quickly erased by a double play and Sam Houston would not record a hit again until two outs in the fifth.
Tarleton's big fourth inning started with station-to-station softball as
Georgia Capell and
Katy Schaefer led off the inning with singles and
Brady Rowland worked a walk to load the bases with no one out.
Then the true freshmen in the lineup went to work.
Austin Germain and
Tristyn Trull ripped RBI singles back up the middle to plate the first two runs of the game. Then
Paige Nunes unloaded for her first career home run – a grand slam to deep left field for a 6-0 Tarleton lead. After a double and a single from
Hallie Saintignan and Medford, Schaefer capped off the inning with a two-run double off the wall to chase the Sam Houston starter after eight runs allowed.
The Bearkats loaded the bases in the fifth, but Bridges got a groundball to shortstop to end the game in Tarleton's favor.
Three Texans had two hits for the game – Medford, Schaefer, and Germain – while Capell, Rowland, Trull, Nunes, and Saintignan had one each. Bridges improved to 9-7 on the season with a complete-game, two-hit shutout.
Game 2: Tarleton 12, Sam Houston 1 (5)
There was no slowing down the Tarleton sticks in the nightcap as the Texans swept Friday's doubleheader to win the series against the Bearkats with a 12-1, five-inning win.
Tarleton got the scoring started with a single, two walks and a hit by pitch that plated the first run of the game. The Texans tacked on two more in the second with back-to-back RBI singles from
Georgia Capell and
Katy Schaefer to take a 3-0 lead that would carry to the fourth inning.
In the fourth inning,
Katy Schaefer decided that driving in runs was cool – so she did it six more times over the next two innings. She blasted a grand slam in the fourth and then added a two-run single in the fifth for a seven-RBI performance.
Georgia Capell,
Austin Germain and
Tristyn Trull added RBIs in the fifth to extend the lead out to the decisive 12-1 score.
Schaefer and Amanda DeSario enjoyed three-hit performances for the day. Schaefer drove in seven runs and DeSario scored four times. The top four in the Texan lineup combined to score 11 of Tarleton's 12 runs – Medford (3), DeSario (4), Capell (2), and Schaefer (2).
Medford, Capell, Germain, Trull, and
Paige Nunes had one hit each.
Meanwhile, in the circle,
Reagan Chism was stellar. The right-hander went all five innings and allowed one run and struck out three.
The Texans will go for the series sweep tomorrow at 12 p.m. in Huntsville. There will be no video stream of Saturday's game.
