COLLEGE STATION — Megan Low homered twice and drove in five runs to help UTSA take wins agianst Boston (3-1) and Illinois State (7-2) on Saturday during the second day of the Texas A&M Invitational.
The Spring native and reigning Conference USA Player of the Week broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh with a walk-off, two-run homer to beat the Terriers (0-8), before she put the Roadrunners (15-5) ahead for good with a three-run shot to down the Redbirds (7-11). With the two blasts, Low moved past head coach Michelle Cheatham (McElyea) and into sixth place on the school’s all-time home run list with 39.
She was one of five players to collect three hits on the day, as Courtney Buchman, Kendall Burton, Jade Smith and Vivian Tijerina aided the UTSA offense. In the circle, Nicole Merrill had one of her best outings of the season to improve to 5-2 on the season with just one hit allowed to go along with six strikeouts.
After a run-rule victory over Boston on Friday, the Terriers kept the Roadrunners offense in check for much of the contest and Boston took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Kendra Meadows’ single.
Merrill limited the Terriers to just that one run and UTSA knotted the game in the fifth on Buchman’s two-out single right-center field that scored Angelica Niño.
The score remained tied heading to the bottom of the seventh and Smith got the rally started with a single up the middle. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before Low lifted the Roadrunners to a 3-1 win with her two-run homer.
Against the Redbirds, UTSA starter Kacy Freeze allowed just one hit through three innings and the Roadrunners grabbed a 1-0 lead on Randee Crawford’s sixth round-tripper of the season.
However, Illinois State scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and chased Freeze from the contest with a 2-1 advantage.
UTSA took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame with another two-out rally. The Roadrunners evened the score at 2-2 on Buchman’s infield hit to plate Smith and Low followed with her three-run shot and a 5-2 cushion.
An inning later, Burton stretched the lead to 7-2 with a two-out single down the right field line that allowed pinch runner Lauren White and Niño to touch home.
That was more than enough for Chelsea Parker, who worked the final 2.1 innings and allowed just two hits with three strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 6-2. Freeze finished the contest with seven punchouts in 4.2 innings.
The Roadrunners will conclude tournament play on Sunday with a 12:15 p.m. contest against No. 22 Texas A&M (16-4).