SAN ANTONIO – Mother Nature didn't exactly provide a lot of support toward getting innings in between the Roadrunners and Hilltoppers this weekend, but UTSA (7-29, 3-8 C-USA) and Western Kentucky (22-14, 7-4 C-USA) found the space between the rains across Friday and into Saturday – ending the weekend with a split series; the first going to the Roadrunners and the finale to the Hilltoppers.
Game one vs. WKU
After scrapping Thursday's opening day of the series due to constant inclement weather, the series finally got under way on Friday after a five-hour delayed first pitch. UTSA and WKU only put in a little over an hour of action on Friday, but in that time span the Roadrunners worked their way into a comfortable position for getting the victory.
However, it was the Hilltoppers who made the quickest strikes. WKU's Brylee Hage grounded out for a RBI that gave the Hilltoppers a brief 1-0 lead in the first inning as the drizzle remained constant coming out of the rain delay. Faced with a UTSA deficit, catcher Taylor Jensen answered in a major way, smacking a home run near the left field scoreboard to even things up.
Starting in the circle of Friday's soggy opener, Marena Estell picked up a blank frame in the second and the timing helped UTSA to gain the upper hand. First baseman Sophie Campbell got things moving in the second with a leadoff double, and Lindsey Davis followed with a walk. Both came around to score quickly, as left fielder Ciarra Mata tabbed an RBI single and Kat Ibarra reached on a dropped fly error, plating Davis with the go-ahead run. Mata, herself, scored on the very next batter, sliding under the tag attempt while Estell reached on the RBI fielder's choice. Third baseman Camryn Robillard rounded out a four-run inning with her fifth sacrifice fly of the year.
WKU pushed back in the third with a sacrifice fly of their own, but just one more batter is all the weather would permit. Play was suspended in a 5-2 UTSA lead heading into the bottom half of the third.
Much clearer skies greeted the teams on Saturday, and the scoreboard remained static through the next three innings until Estell absolutely crushed a two-run homer into the right field trees that built out the lead to 7-2. Still in the circle, Estell (3-7) knocked down the requisite outs in the seventh to earn the 7.0-inning complete game win, tying a career high with five strikeouts, allowing two runs on one hit.
Taking the loss for the Hilltoppers, Katie Gardner (10-9) went 5.0 innings with four earned runs on three hits.
In the opening game, Estell collected three RBI on 1-for-3 hitting to lead UTSA.
The winning effort snapped an 11-game losing skid for the Roadrunners.
Game two vs. WKU
The grinding offensive approach to the second game mirrored the first, but the Hilltoppers proved much more successful at limiting UTSA this time around, while slowly building up an insurmountable advantage.
Taking the circle for UTSA, Reagan Smith put the Hilltoppers down in short order during the first frame, but Hage's leadoff home run in the second started the wheels in motion for WKU. An error proved costly for the Roadrunners in the third, as the error-reaching batter was one of two scorers on a Hage two-run double that followed. Taylor Davis would provide WKU with one more unanswered score in the top of the fourth, an RBI single into left field.
However, on the very first pitch of the home half, Jensen smoked a ball over the batter's eye for her fifth home run of the year, trimming the deficit to a manageable 4-1.
Smith worked UTSA out of a jam to keep the fifth frame clear, but with Gardner pitching for WKU and did her part to prevent the momentum shift that went against her in the first game.
The teams traded scores in the sixth on RBI groundouts, Davis vs. Lilly Hood for UTSA.
However, following a pitching change to Estell in the seventh, WKU racked up a big inning on home runs by Randi Drinnon and Faith Hegh that grew the lead to a final 9-2 margin.
Smith (3-12) went 6.1 innings with four earned runs on eight hits, taking the loss. Gardner (11-9) went the distance for the win, holding UTSA to two runs on three hits.
Jensen went 1-for-2 with the RBI and run off the homer.
The next contest for the Roadrunners is at Louisiana Tech next weekend, as UTSA travels to Ruston, La. for a three-game set at the Lady Techsters on the turf at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field, April 14-16.
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