EL PASO, Texas – It was the opposite but also the same story between Days 1-2 for Tarleton, who split their set again at the UTEP Invitational, beating UMKC again before falling to the host team.
To start Saturday at Helen of Troy Field in El Paso, Texas, the Texans (11-6) won their second straight game against Missouri-Kansas City (3-10), this time getting outhit but winning by a similar margin, 6-3. The Texans then faced the host UTEP Miners (7-5), who put up four runs in the second inning to win 5-2.
Tarleton 6, UMKC 3
In the first matchup on Friday, Tarleton allowed just three hits by UMKC and won 6-2. This time the Texans faced more traffic, allowing nine hits, but it didn't cost them in their 6-3 win.
Tarleton got on the board first on a
Jordan Dickerson shot to left center, her first home run of the season, part of a 3-for-3 game for the redshirt sophomore.
UMKC answered in the top of the second on two doubles in the frame to tie the game 1-1. They took the lead in the third, making the Texans pay for a one-out walk, as Sydney Nichols doubled home Lexy Smith to put the Roos ahead 2-1 with runners in scoring position and just one out. Starting pitcher
Tristan Bridges escaped with no more damage, inducing a pop out to third before striking out Amelia Fitzgerald.
Tarleton tied the game in the bottom of the fourth 2-2, with
Katy Schaefer doubling home
Kelci Hill. The Roos then responded again with a run in the top of the fifth to take back the lead 3-2 on back-to-back one-out doubles.
The Texans made their move in the sixth down 3-2. Dickerson started the four-run rally with a one-out single. Hill then slapped one down the third base line for a game-tying RBI triple, scoring the go-ahead run later on a
Brady Rowland fielder's choice grounder up the middle.
Sage Harlow and
Kiana Gibson added insurance runs with an RBI single and RBI fielder's choice to make it 6-3 Tarleton headed to the final frame.
Kennedy Ferguson (3-1) earned the win, allowing a harmless double in the seventh before striking out Fitzgerald to end the game. She relieved Bridges in the sixth inning, going 1.1 IP, allowing one hit and earning two strikeouts. Bridges went 5.2 IP, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and four walks, adding seven strikeouts.
Dickerson was the lone Texan with a multi-hit game. Hill (two runs, one RBI), Schaefer (one RBI, one walk), Rowland (one run) and Harlow (one RBI) each had a hit.
UTEP 5, Tarleton 2
Tarleton was simply the victim of one poor inning that cost them the game, a four-spot by the Miners in the second.
The Texans took a first inning 1-0 lead after their first three batters reached base. Despite back-to-back outs with the bases loaded,
Tristyn Trull made sure Tarleton got on the board with a single to score
Morgan Medford, putting the Texans up right away.
In the second inning, Tarleton starting pitcher
Grace Garcia walked the first batter, but responded with a strikeout. The Miners then had two home runs and a triple in three of their next four at-bats to take a 4-1 lead, chasing Garcia in the frame.
Both pitchers rolled through the third, fourth, and fifth innings, Tarleton's Ferguson and UTEP's Zaylie Calderon.
In the sixth, Trull delivered again for the purple and white, belting her first home run of the year over the left field wall to make it a 4-2 game. UTEP added one back in the sixth on their end, then avoided trouble despite two seventh inning Tarleton singles to win by three.
Garcia (5-1) lost her first game of the year, giving up four earned runs on five hits and two walks in 1.2 IP, with two strikeouts. Ferguson allowed just one earned run in 4.1 IP on four hits and a walk with a strikeout. Calderon (3-2) went the distance for UTEP, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits, two walks and a hit batter, posting four strikeouts.
Hill (2-for-4) and Trull (2-for-3, 2 RBI, one run) had multi-hit games for the Texans, while Medford (one run) and Dickerson each added a hit.
The Texans will go for a winning slate at the UTEP Invitational on Sunday at 10 a.m. CT for their final game in El Paso against Creighton.
