SAN ANTONIO — Tess Soefje and Chelsea Thomas each homered to back a strong start from Chelsea Parker as UTSA defeated North Dakota, 8-1, in its home opener on Friday evening at Roadrunner Field.
Thomas went 2-for-4 on the night and hit her second homer of the season, a three-run shot, while Soefje’s first homer of the campaign went for a pair of runs to power the Roadrunners (3-3), who opened play in the UTSA Classic. In the circle, Parker allowed just two hits and an unearned run in five innings of work to even her record at 2-2.
Bailee Baldwin, who went 2-for-4, gave UTSA an early lead with an RBI single to right in the bottom of the first and the home squad picked up two more runs in the second and third innings to build a 5-0 advantage.
In the second frame, Jade Smith dropped down a bunt single and Erica Sanchez, who reached with a leadoff hit, came around to score on a throwing error. Two batters later, Kendall Burton tacked on a run with an RBI grounder.
The Roadrunners’ final five runs of the night came via the longball, first with Soefje’s two-run no-doubter to center field that plated Randee Crawford in the third.
After the Fighting Hawks (1-5) got on the board with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, Alyssa Cummings and Soefje reached base with a fielder’s choice and hit-by-pitch to set the stage for Thomas’ blast to right-center that pushed the lead to 8-1.
Parker exited after the fifth inning and Nicole Merrill allowed just two hits and a walk in two scoreless innings for her first appearance of the season. North Dakota threatened in the seventh, but the game ended when Baldwin tossed a strike from right field to the plate where Soefje applied the tag for the final out of the contest.
Hannah Bergh took the loss for North Dakota and fell to 0-3 with seven earned runs on eight hits in four innings.
The Roadrunners will continue tournament play on Saturday when they host Virginia (3-4) at 4:30 p.m. and Tulsa (5-2) at 7 p.m.