SAN ANTONIO — UTSA rode the right arms of senior Emily Humpal and sophomore Haylee Staton to a Southland Conference sweep of Northwestern State, 4-0 and 2-1, on Saturday. The contests were the first at Roadrunner Field this season.
The Roadrunners (4-12, 2-3 SLC) snapped a 12-game losing streak with the two victories, while the Lady Demons (15-8, 3-2 SLC) saw their four-game winning steak come to an end.
Freshman Molly Fichtner put UTSA on the board in the first game with an RBI double to right in the opening inning. Senior Carrie Monroe led off the frame with a single and stole second before Fichtner recorded her 16th RBI of the season.
The Roadrunners put a pair of marks on the board in the fourth with three consecutive hits.
Junior Caitlyn Ivy’s double to left center put runners on second and third for senior Kristin Kappler. The Lake Jackson native took Kylie Roos’ offering to right center to score Fichtner before Humpal helped her own cause with a run-scoring single to center.
Humpal once again aided her cause with an RBI double in the sixth for an insurance run. The Corpus Christi native went on to retired the side in order in the seventh to record her first win of the season. That capped off a complete-game effort in which she allowed just four hits while striking out three.
Roos (8-2) also went the distance, giving up nine hits.
It was the Lady Demons who jumped ahead early in the nightcap with a run in the first.
A sacrifice bunt put Tara McKenney at second and she scored on a Roos single through the left side.
However, that would be all that Northwestern State would manage against Staton.
UTSA tied the game in the fourth thanks to an error on McKenney. With runners on second and third, senior pinch hitter Danye Holmes plated Fichtner with a single to center to tie the contest at one.
It remained that way until the seventh when junior Nikki Goff led off the frame with a single up the middle. She advanced on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on junior Ashley Kappler’s double to right-center for the walk-off win.
Staton (2-4) scattered five hits, while Brooke Boening (4-3) took the loss in relief.
UTSA will look for the series sweep at noon on Sunday.
