Offense Explodes to Help Softball Split at Judson College on Thursday
MARION, Ala. – The University of Dallas softball team combined for 19 runs in Thursday's non-conference doubleheader at Judson College. After dropping game one, 10-8, due to a six-run sixth by the Eagles, it was Dallas that used a six-run inning in the second game to roll to an 11-3 victory in five innings. The Crusaders combined to smack five home runs in the twinbill.
(Game 1 Information)
Team Scores: Dallas (8), Judson (10)
Team Records: Dallas (4-11), Judson (11-9)
Pitcher Records: W) Taylor Hutto (6-3), L) Paige Rasmussen (2-6)
It was a back-and-forth game as the Crusaders started with a 1-0 lead after one inning. Judson responded with two runs in the second inning, as Charlie Sturdivant doubled to center and Carson Beatty plated the go-ahead run with a single to left that scored Sturdivant.
Julie Duenas (Houston, Texas) walloped a solo homer in the third to knot the score again. Liz Cordova (Oklahoma City, Okla.) notched a double to right that scored Mel Savala (Bryan, Texas) to put UD on top 3-2. A home run blasted to left by left-handed batter Caitlyn Stevenson (Henderson, Texas) made it 4-2.
Katie Glover tallied a dinger for the Eagles with a two-run shot in the fifth to level the score.
Dallas countered with four runs in the sixth, as Bri Torres (Cypress, Texas), Duenas, and Karina Campo (Georgetown, Texas) singled home runs to account for most of the run production.
Judson rattled off a six-run, nine-hit bottom of the inning to give the momentum to the home team. Jaylyn Martin had the decisive hit with a two-RBI single that scored Glover for the tie and Taylor Hutto for the leading run.
Hutto made sure that lead held in the last UD at bat, as she sat the side down in order to finish a complete game. She struck out five in the circle.
Both teams tallied double-digits in the hits column, with Judson etching 19 to the Crusaders' 12. Duenas and Savala had 3-for-4 games to lead the offense. The first seven hitters in the UD lineup recorded a base knock. Stevenson's triple was the other extra-base hit knock.
Paige Rasmussen (El Campo, Texas) pitched five innings and allowed six runs on 15 hits to go with four strikeouts. She started and came back in relief after Haley Henson (Chandler, Texas) logged an inning.
A quartet of players for the Eagles notched three-hit performances with Glover (3-3), Hutto (3-4), Anslee Vinson (3-4), and Beatty (3-5) forming the group. There were four doubles by the Eagles. Glover was a single short of the cycle.
(Game 2 Information) (Final 5 innings)
Team Scores: Dallas (11), Judson (3)
Team Records: Dallas (5-11), Judson (11-10)
Pitcher Records: W) Karina Campo (3-5), L) Sarah Lippeatt (4-3)
In the second game, UD batted around and sent 11 batters to the plate as part of a six-run, seven-hit first inning. Duenas belted her third home run of the season and second on the day for a two-run shot that scored Torres, who had just driven in Stevenson. Stevenson's lead off triple was part of UD's cycle that frame, as Katelyn Lazarek (Seattle, Wash.) and Cordova ripped run-scoring doubles, and three singles came as well.
A pair of doubles by Vinson and Erin Harrison cut the deficit in half for Judson (6-3) in the second inning.
Dallas' Stevenson singled to right in the third to get a run back, and then a two-run homer by Campo blew the gates open with a 10-3 lead in the fourth. Blyss Johnson (Wells, Texas) added her first collegiate long ball in that fourth to make it the score of this final result.
Stevenson was just missing her home run from game one to complete the cycle in this contest, as she (4-4) and Campo (3-3) were perfect at the plate. Campo led UD with three runs scored and three runs driven in.
Campo was also the winner in the circle, going five innings with five hits, three runs, three walks, and three strikeouts.
Savala and Lazarek posted the other multi-hit games for the Crusaders with a respective 2-for-3 and 2-for-4. Each scored twice and Lazarek drove in a runner.
Beatty doubled and went 2-for-3 to lead Judson in hits. Sarah Lippeatt was tagged for 11 runs (eight earned), while allowing 15 hits to with a walk and punchout.
UP NEXT
Dallas gears up for its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) home series this Saturday and Sunday against Schreiner University. Doubleheaders both days are slated for 12 p.m. start times.