Stephen F. Austin
Texas State
Tullos Powers SFA Into Title Game
5/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2008
SAN MARCOS, Texas - Senior Jessica Tullos hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, and Stephen F. Austin punched its ticket to the Southland Conference Tournament championship game with a 3-2 win over No. 1 seed Texas State Friday at Bobcat Field.
The win puts SFA into Saturday's championship game against No. 6 Nicholls State. The Colonels (31-27) defeated UT-Arlington, 5-2, Friday to earn their way into the title game. The Ladyjacks, who came into the tournament as the No. 4 seed, improved their season record to 35-23 with Friday's victory. Saturday's championship match-up is set for a 4 p.m. start.
After a slow start offensively, SFA trailed, 2-0, heading into the top of the sixth. The Ladyjacks had not recorded a base hit through the first five innings and had managed just three runners with two reaching on walks and a third on a throwing error. But Tullos erased the memory of that sluggish start with one swing of the bat.
Sophomore Kendal Harper set things in motion when she reached base on a hard-hit ground ball that was misplayed by second baseman Ryan Kos. The next batter, junior Benet Higgs, laced a base knock back up the middle, breaking up Ragan Blake's no-hitter and bringing cleanup hitter Tullos to the plate.
Tullos watched three balls and two strikes before picking out a pitch she liked and sending a high-arcing home run over the left-field wall, just beyond the reach of Jill Kloesel. The homer is the 11th this season for Tullos and 23rd of her career, extending her lead in the SFA all-time records books in both single-season and career long balls. More importantly, it gave the Ladyjacks a 3-2 advantage.
SFA held the one-run edge into the seventh, despite Texas State leading off its half of the sixth with two consecutive base hits by Alex Newton and Baack. The next batter, Boatright, tried to sacrifice the runners over, but Tullos charged hard from first base to get a glove under the ball when Boatright popped it up. Newton stole third in the next at-bat but couldn't advance on Taylor Hall's ground-out to third. Baack moved to second on the play, giving the Bobcats two runners in scoring position, but Monika Covington retired Jenna Emery on strikes to end the threat.
Covington induced two groundouts and a fly ball to Monica Hirsch in the bottom of the seventh to end the game and give SFA its first berth in the SLC Tournament championship game since 1990.
Texas State struck first with two runs in the fourth inning, taking advantage of an SFA error. After McKenzie Baack drew a two-out walk, Leah Boatright dropped a bunt right in front of the plate. Kim Daley came out to make a play on the ball, but her throw to first sailed wide and rattled into the right-field corner. Both runners scored, with Boatright sliding in just ahead of the relay throw from the outfield. Boatright was credited with a single on the play, and Daley was charged with a three-base throwing error.
Earlier in the inning, right fielder Harper had charged hard for a diving catch on a sinking line drive off the bat of Alex Newton to record the second out.
Covington (19-12) finished the game with two unearned runs on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Hirsch added a base hit in the top of the seventh to give SFA three for the game.
The Ladyjacks' 35 wins rank as the third-highest total for the program since joining the Southland Conference in 1988 and marks their best record since going 38-16 in 1991.
SFA is in the SLC Tournament championship game for the third time in program history and the first time since 1990, the last time the Ladyjacks were in the conference's postseason tournament. Fittingly, SFA was also the No. 4 seed in that year's bracket, where they defeated Northwestern State in the title game. No other fourth seed has reached the championship round, let alone won the tournament, in the 18 years since.
Nicholls State was last in the title game in 2003, when the Colonels dropped a 6-2 decision to UT-Arlington.
Saturday's championship game can be followed via Live Stats on the Southland Conference Web site at www.southland.org.
-- SFA --
