BOCA RATON, Fla. — Florida Atlantic rallied from a five-run deficit for a 6-5 victory against UTSA in Conference USA softball action on Sunday afternoon at FAU Softball Stadium.
The Owls (33-18, 13-8 C-USA) scored two runs apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to complete the comeback from a 5-0 deficit and sweep the Roadrunners (19-32, 9-15 C-USA) in the weekend three-game series.
Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh, FAU loaded the bases with no outs after a leadoff walk to Emily Lochten, a stolen base, a single up the middle by Madisyn Palmer and a fielder's choice ground ball that did not result in an out by Delaney Rickey. Tatum Buckley then lifted a fly ball into right field that was mishandled, allowing the tying and winning runs to come home.
Lochten slugged a two-run home run to right center in the fifth to start the comeback.
In the next panel, a double in the left-field corner by Buckley scored Rickey, who walked to start the frame. Pinch runner Summer Damiano then moved to third on a bunt single by Alex Miller and scored on a groundout to the shortstop to pull FAU to within 5-4.
Buckley earned the win, tossing two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief to improve to 9-6.
Lindsey Stewart had two hits and scored a pair of runs, while Bailee Baldwin also had two hits and a pair of RBIs to lead the UTSA offense.
The Roadrunners jumped on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the first. Stewart started the game with a ground-ball single to center field and stole second. After a walk to Angelica Nino and a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third, Baldwin singled up the middle to put UTSA up, 2-0.
Three FAU errors in the top of the second helped extend the lead to 3-0. Hailey Garza reached on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a throwing error, advanced to third on a groundout and came home on a misplay by the second baseman.
Erica Sanchez opened the fourth with an infield single and moved to second when the throw got away at first. Kylea Nix put down a sacrifice bunt to move Sanchez to third and Garza lifted a sac fly to center to put UTSA up by a 4-0 count.
The visitors padded their lead in the fifth. Stewart led off with a bunt single, stole second and scored on a base hit to right by Baldwin.
The Roadrunners now will wait to see if they qualify for the C-USA Championship, which will be contested from May 10-13 in Hattiesburg, Miss. The top three teams in each division and the remaining two teams with the best winning percentage will advance to the tournament.
UTSA will close out its regular season schedule on Wednesday, May 3, when it hosts Texas Tech (17-28) in a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Roadrunner Field.
