Softball topped on Saturday by Trinity in SCAC Tournament
SEGUIN, Texas – The fourth-seeded University of Dallas softball team dropped its second game of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament on Saturday to sixth-seeded Trinity University. The Tigers broke a scoreless game in the third inning and added four runs in the fifth to support a three-hit shutout.
GAME INFORMATION
Team Scores: Trinity University (4), University of Dallas (0)
Team Records: Trinity (16-27), Dallas (14-28)
Pitcher Records: W) Castillon (9-13), L) Lee (5-13)
NOTABLE STATISTICS
- After a hitless day in Friday's tournament opener, Allie Driskill (Houston, Texas) went 2-for-3 with a stolen base.
- Driskill swiped her 10th steal and became the fifth player on the team to eclipse double-digits. The quintet paced by SCAC Co-Player of the Year Jade Miller's (Plano, Texas) 30 helped the team secure 107 on the campaign.
- Dallas broke the century mark back-to-back seasons with the all-time record being 134 in 2016. These are the only two seasons in program history UD has surpassed 100.
- Allison Kotlar (Edna, Texas) recorded the other hit for the Crusaders.
- Stephanie Cervantes (Temecula, Calif.) was hit by a pitch for the 9th time this year. The last player to be plunked that many times was Taylor Garcia ('15) 12 times in 2012.
- Baylee Leifester (Belton, Texas) took both of the team's walks.
- Katie Lee (Houston, Texas) threw 4.1 innings in the start. She yielded four runs (2 earned) on six hits to go with no walks or strikeouts.
- Her counterpart for Trinity was Katie Castillon. She scattered three hits and struck out three over seven shutout frames.
- The Tigers posted seven hits, all for singles. Rylie Goldwait notched a 3-for-4 and scored a run.
- Rebecca Berreth contributed all the team's runs-batted-in (2) and had a multi-hit day going 2-for-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the regular season series between these teams, the winner of each game scored no more than three runs. Saturday's second elimination game of the day reflected it was heading towards another low-scoring day with one run scored on four hits combined through four innings.
The Crusaders were the first team to put multiple runners on base with two coming in the second inning. Driskill singled to center to leadoff the frame. After two outs were made, the shortstop stole second and then Leifester walked to put a pair on. Dallas was unable to advance them further.
In the next half inning, Trinity responded by putting multiple runners on for the first time in the game and scored the only run that would be necessary. Mackenzie Hill was hit by a pitch to start. Rylie Goldwait followed with a bunt single. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up to scoring position, Hill then crossed home on an RBI-groundout from Berreth on the next at bat.
Castillon faced one over the minimum in the next two home-half innings before her offense broke the tight game with three insurance runs in the fifth. With one out and the bases loaded, Berreth singled in a run for her second RBI of the game. Two more runs followed on the same play due to an error.
Lauren Galvan (Bryan, Texas) came into relief for Dallas and she finished the final 2.2 innings with only two runners reaching for the Tigers via a hit and walk.
Down 4-0, the Crusaders responded with two runners in the bottom of the inning. Leifester led off with a walk and then two batters later Kotlar bunted for a single. Two outs in a row stranded them.
Driskill picked up her other hit in the sixth and went to second on an error. Trinity got the next five outs in a row to advance. With the setback, the Crusaders have been eliminated from the tournament.
WORTH NOTING
After the SCAC Tournament concluded, the All-Tournament Teams were released. Cervantes was named from Dallas as the catcher for the All-Tournament Team. The sophomore went 3-for-4 with two RBI, three runs scored, and two stolen bases in Friday's contest against Schreiner University.