| May 6, 2006
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4551 UTSA advances to SLC Championship with wild win over UTA Box Score
NATCHITOCHES, La. – Senior Jessica Els hit two home runs and senior Mel Torres (right) slugged the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel the UTSA softball team to a wild 7-5 win over Texas-Arlington Saturday night at Demon Diamond. The win sends UTSA (36-12) to the championship game of the Southland Conference Tournament on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Trailing 5-3 with a runner on second and down to their final out in the bottom of the seventh, Els lined a full-count pitch from UTA starter Laura Jones over the fence in center field for her second home run of the game to force extra frames. Freshman Leanne Risberg had doubled to left with one out and scored on Els’ 15th blast of the season.
After a scoreless eighth, senior Stacey Gillespie led off the ninth with a double to the gap in right center. Following a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, Torres stepped up with her 10th home run of the year, a high shot to left field that ended the game and sent the Roadrunners to their second SLC Tournament championship game in the past three years.
UTSA, the 2004 SLC Tournament champion, faces the winner of the UTA/Texas State game being held at 11 a.m. Sunday with that team needing to beat the Roadrunners twice.
UTSA used the long ball and overcame a career strikeout performance by Jones in winning its sixth straight meeting with UTA, the fourth in the last seven days.
The Roadrunners struck first on a two-run homer to left off the bat of Gillespie, her ninth of the season, in the bottom of the second that scored freshman Rachel Rackley, who walked.
The Mavericks answered with a solo home run by Katie Jones to left in the top of the third to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
Els sent the first of her two long balls over the high fence in center field to push the UTSA lead to 3-1 after three innings.
UTA knotted the score at 3-all on a bloop single by April Clougherty in the fourth that fell in between a diving shortstop Aimee Murray and Risberg in short left field. The Mavericks took their first lead, 4-3, in the sixth as Autumn Petrino doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out, infield error off the bat of Clougherty, who set a career mark with three runs batted in.
UTA tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Dee Jay Nelson singled home Katie Jones, who reached on a base hit to right center.
That set the stage for Els’, who is 4-for-10 with three homers in the tournament, dramatic blast in the Roadrunners’ half of the seventh. With Torres’ walk-off round-tripper in the ninth, UTSA hit four for the game to push its season total to 98 in 48 games, meaning the Roadrunners’ 2.04 home runs per game average is ahead of the program’s NCAA record of 1.87 set in 2004 (101 in 54 games). Additionally, all 14 runs scored by UTSA in the SLC Tournament have come via eight home runs.
Junior Ursula Mares worked six innings in relief in earning her second win of the day, running her record to 12-7. She struck out six and allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits. Laura Jones struck out a career-high 16, but gave up seven earned runs on seven hits in falling to 11-6.
|
