SAN ANTONIO — Senior Danye Holmes went 4-for-7 with a home run and four RBIs at the plate and picked up a win in the circle to power UTSA to a doubleheader sweep of Sam Houston State, 4-3 and 11-3, on Saturday at Roadrunner Field.
Senior Carrie Monroe and freshman Molly Fichtner also homered in helping the Roadrunners (11-14, 7-4 SLC) stretch their winning streak to five games.
UTSA fell behind in the third inning of game one when Alex Survant launched a two-run homer to right.
Monroe led off the bottom half of the inning with her first long ball as a Roadruner, which cut the deficit in half.
UTSA missed out on a chance to take control in the fifth when junior Caitlyn Ivy grounded out to first with two down and the bases loaded.
The Bearkats (11-20, 3-7 SLC) tacked on an unearned run in the sixth to make it 3-1 and, after a scoreless bottom-half of the panel, the Roadrunners were down to its final three outs.
However, the Birds made a furious rally, which was aided by a Sam Houston State error to start the seventh. Freshman pinch hitter Jori Fox reached when her grounder was misplayed by first baseman Courtney Flanary. After a strikeout, junior Ashley Kappler singled to center and Fichtner walked to load the bases for Ivy. This time, a grounder to first resulted in a run and kept the inning alive. With two outs, senior Kristin Kappler fell behind in the count 0-2 before coaxing a full-count walk to once again load the bases for Holmes. The senior fell behind but rocketed a 1-2 pitch off Wiginton at short. The ball caromed into shallow center field and that allowed Ashley Kappler and Fichtner to score the tying and winning runs.
Senior Emily Humpal (4-0) scattered eight hits and struck out seven in the complete game victory, while Garrison (8-10) allowed eight hits and recorded six punchouts in the losing effort.
Game two did not produce the same amount of drama, but UTSA opened the bottom of the first with three consecutive hits for a 1-0 lead before an RBI grounder from Ivy stretched the advantage to two.
Holmes retired the first two batters in the second before three consecutive hits by the Bearkats made it 3-2.
Sam Houston State did not hold the lead for long, the Roadrunners scored three times in the bottom of the inning to take the upper hand for good.
UTSA again strung together three consecutive hits to produce a run before a wild pitch plated junior Laura Little. Ivy’s single through the right side brought home sophomore Samantha Beeson and the Roadrunners never looked back.
Monroe led off the fourth with a walk and scored on Fichtner’s Southland Conference-leading seventh home run of the season to make it 7-3. The freshman worked a 3-1 count before crushing Shelby Lancaster’s offering over the fence in left. Kristin Kappler then singled on the first pitch she saw to set the stage for Holmes’ second homer of the year.
UTSA earned the run-rule victory in the fifth with a pair of runs that scored on an error and a single from Kristin Kappler.
Holmes (2-2) surrendered three runs and struck out three in going the distance, while Lancaster (1-2) gave up nine runs in her 3.2 innings.
The Roadrunners will look for the series sweep at noon on Sunday.
