Stephen F. Austin
Houston Baptist
SFA Takes Two From Huskies
3/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 10, 2010
LUFKIN, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin bats were relatively quiet for the majority of the day but did enough to sweep a doubleheader against Houston Baptist at Angelina College's Roadrunner Field on Wednesday. The Ladyjacks took Game 1, 3-2, then took a 2-0 win in the second game.
The games were moved to Lufkin due to playing conditions at SFA, but it did not have much effect on the SFA pitching staff which allowed just seven hits in the two games combined.
SFA got out to a quick lead in Game 1 and rode a strong pitching performance by junior Lauren Luetge.
After Luetge set down the Huskies in the first, the Ladyjacks gave her a lead to work with as Kendal Harper and Michelle Huffman led off with a pair of infield singles. After a double steal, Briana Bishop gave SFA an early 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to center before Kristi Malpass got a pair of strikeouts of Brittany Caruthers and Kayla Gutowski to end the inning.
Bethany Brown made it 2-0 with a leadoff solo home run in the bottom of the third, meanwhile Luetge was cruising early on, setting down eight straight Huskies before Mollye Mlcak and Sara Corcoron connected on back-to-back homers to tie the game at two apiece in the top of the fourth.
Angela White (6-3) came on to relieve Luetge after the fifth and took the win after Amber Price delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth off of Malpass. The hit scored Ashley Struchtmeyer from third. Struchtemeyer had reached on a one-out single and moved up on an error by the Huskies third baseman.
White allowed a one-out single in the top of the seventh, but got Beth Evans to ground into a double play to end the game.
Game 2 started off quietly for three full innings before Struchtmeyer slammed her first home run of the season in leadoff fashion in the bottom of the fourth inning to give ace Monika Covington a 1-0 lead. From there, Covington kept the Huskies at bay with five strikeouts before Struchtmeyer crossed the plate a second time to give SFA an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. This time the junior infielder scored on an RBI single by Karissa Jones.
Covington (4-4) worked all seven innings, holding the Huskies to three hits and a walk with six strikeouts to win her fourth consecutive start.
The Ladyjacks will return to action Thursday for a doubleheader against Monmouth. The two-game set is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. from SFA Softball Field.
-- SFA --
