SAN ANTONIO — Tess Soefje capped a nine-run fourth inning with a grand slam and UTSA run-ruled Louisiana Tech 10-2 in five innings on Sunday afternoon at Roadrunner Field to take the Conference USA West Division crown.
With the win, the Roadrunners (35-17, 16-7 C-USA) will be the No. 3 seed in next week’s C-USA Tournament, which will start on Thursday, May 7, in Miami, Fla. Along with Soefje’s grand slam, Randee Crawford belted her league-leading 18th homer of the season, while Erica Sanchez gave UTSA an early lead with the first round-tripper of her career.
In the circle, Kelsi Ott picked up the win and she improved to 5-2 after she allowed a pair of unearned runs on three hits with five strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
Lady Techsters (31-18, 12-9 C-USA) starter Bailey Allen had four strikeouts in the first two innings before Sanchez took a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left-center field for her first collegiate homer.
Working with the lead, Ott did not allow a hit until the third inning and she stranded two Louisiana Tech runners on base in the top of the fourth to hold the 1-0 lead.
The Roadrunners then exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the frame to take control of the contest.
Crawford started the inning with a solo homer to left-center and Allen hit Soefje with a pitch before she exited the game in favor of reliever Carolina Sanchez. Sanchez got a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but Oberg’s infield hit and an error extended the lead to 3-0. Kendall Burton, who finished the day 2-for-3 at the plate, then lined a double to the gap in left-center to plate two more runs and Courtney Buchman, who also went 2-for-3, produced a double of her own for a 6-0 cushion.
Sanchez then intentionally walked Megan Low and issued a free pass to Vivian Tijerina to load the bases. Following a fielder’s choice that resulted in an out at home, Soefje took a 1-0 pitch over the wall for her ninth round-tripper of the season and first grand slam as a Roadrunner.
The Lady Techsters scored two unearned runs in the top of the fifth, but reliever Chelsea Parker got Bianca Duran to fly out with the bases loaded to end the game.