No. 6 Seed Crusaders Provide Upset Scare to No. 3 Seed Centenary; Fall by Lone Run of Day in 7th
SHREVEPORT, La. – The No. 6 Seed University of Dallas softball team traded zeros through the first six innings with the host and No. 3 Seed Centenary College on Friday afternoon of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament. The second game of the day was a thriller, as UD threatened to pull the first upset of the tournament. However, the Ladies would walk-off in the seventh on an RBI-single by Becca McGough to advance.
(Game Information)
Team Scores: Dallas (0), Centenary (1)
Team Records: Dallas (7-32), Centenary (16-21)
Pitcher Records: W) Scoggin (8-4), L) Watts (1-7).
There were 13 combined singles on the game, with the Ladies taking a 7-6 edge on the final knock of the seventh inning. Through five frames both teams had just four base knocks.
Centenary had a chance to score in the first inning, as Erin Lewis singled to shortstop, but a big play at the plate would catch Cassie Gonzalez trying to stretch an extra base for what could have been the first run. UD's Madison Coutts (Tampa, Fla.) held on for the crucial defensive play.
Paige Rasmussen (El Campo, Texas), making her first start since March 16, was back to pitching like the ace of the staff as she logged six shutout innings. The only inning she stranded more than a baserunner in was the sixth, which was two. Rasmussen recorded her fourth strikeout to keep the game scoreless.
The Ladies also had the arms to battle in this pitchers' duel, with Nichole Aldridge and Hannah Scoggin combining for seven blank innings. Aldridge totaled 5.1 innings in the start, while scattering six singles. She walked none and struck out one. Scoggins earned the win in relief, as she retired all five batters she faced that included a pair of punchouts.
Dallas' best chance to score came in the fifth and sixth innings thanks to a pair of hits in both. Consecutive singles by Bri Torres (Cypress, Texas) and Mackenzie Tano (Wylie, Texas) started the fifth, but the next three batters could only get a runner to third. Julie Duenas (Houston, Texas) and Liz Cordova (Oklahoma City, Okla.) reached on hits up the middle and to center field in the next top of the inning. With one out, Scoggin came in for relief and got a line-out to left and groundout to first.
Haley Campbell led off the seventh with a single to left center. She stole second, which the home team in this game snagged five total. Campbell grabbed her second and was in scoring position to come home two batters later on McGough's base hit for the game-winner.
Maggie Watts (Arcadia, La.) was saddled with the loss for UD, as she retired one of the three batters faced.
Duenas logged the lone multi-hit game with a pair of singles that went back up the middle. These pair of hits tied her for second all-time in the program with Jessica Mollner and Amber Adams in 2009 for a single-season number of 52.
UP NEXT
Centenary went on to play the No. 2 Seed Southwestern University and fell 3-2 in nine innings on Friday evening. It will now play against the No. 5 Seed Trinity University on Saturday in an elimination game.
Dallas looks to keep its season alive against No. 4 Seed Schreiner University on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Mountaineers defeated Trinity University in the first game of the day, 7-2, before being run-ruled against the No. 1 Seed Texas Lutheran University, 10-2. The Crusaders went 0-4 this regular season against the Mountaineers in Irving. These programs last met in the conference tournament in 2017, with SU prevailing 10-7. The Mountaineers are 2-1 against UD in the conference tournament, with all matchups dating to 2015. This is the first elimination matchup between the squads.