Stephen F. Austin
Texas State
SFA Takes Two To Clinch Share Of Title
5/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 8, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team got walk-off home runs in consecutive games Saturday to earn a doubleheader sweep in the opener of its series with Texas State. The two wins locked up at least a share of the Ladyjacks' first-ever Southland Conference championship and the No. 1 seed at next week's Southland Tournament in San Marcos.
SFA trailed in both games but rallied to push the contests to extra innings. The Ladyjacks won the opener on a two-run bomb by Kendal Harper with two down in the bottom of the ninth, then got a leadoff blast from Briana Bishop in the bottom of the eighth to complete the sweep.
With the victories, SFA improves to 28-17 on the year with a 20-9 record in Southland play. Texas State falls to 24-24 overall and 19-10 in league action. A win in Sunday's series finale would give the Ladyjacks claim to an outright conference title, while the Bobcats would secure a share of their third straight league championship if they can avoid the sweep.
Texas State starter Chandler Hall pitched five-and-a-third innings of no-hit ball in the opener, but SFA exploded for eight base knocks - including two home runs - over the final four innings to take a 3-1 verdict.
Jenna Emery put up the first run of the game when she homered off SFA starter Monika Covington on an 0-2 count with two down in the top of the seventh.
The Ladyjacks answered in the bottom half. After Kayla Gutowski led off with a fly ball that took Texas State right fielder Leah Boatright to the warning track, Ashley Struchtemeyer blasted a one-out homer to right-center to tie the score.
SFA would go on to load the bases on back-to-back singles by Brittany Caruthers and Karissa Jones, followed by a hit batsman. But Hall got a strikeout and a foul pop to send the game to extra innings.
Covington held the Bobcats scoreless on one hit in the eighth and ninth. Gutowski and Struchtemeyer put up back-to-back singles with two out in the SFA half of the eighth, but Hall again escaped harm with a strikeout.
Then, in the ninth, Bethany Brown got her first hit of the day - a single up the middle - to extend the inning and bring Harper to the plate. The senior center fielder lifted Hall's 3-2 offering way over the wall in right-center to end the game. It was her fifth home run of the year.
Harper went 2-for-5 with two RBI to lead SFA at the plate in the opener. Struchtemeyer was 2-for-4, and Brown, Gutowski, Caruthers and Jones each hit safely once.
Covington scattered five hits over nine innings to improve to 14-9 on the season. She didn't issue a walk and struck out seven.
The Bobcats took advantage of a few SFA miscues to take a 3-0 lead early in the second game, but the Ladyjacks tied the score in the sixth, then took home the sweep with a 4-3 victory after Bishop's blast to start the eighth.
Texas State put up a run in the top of the first when a passed ball and a wild pitch in the same at-bat allowed Anna Hernandez to move from second to third and then score.
SFA went quietly in the bottom half and neither team scratched in the second inning, but Texas State got back on the scoreboard with a pair of two-out runs in the third. McKenzie Baack reached on a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning, then took second on a passed ball. She would score when Jenna Emery singled to left. Emery took an extra base on the throw home, then Boatright got a base knock back up the middle to score Emery, giving the Bobcats a 3-0 edge.
SFA got two of the runs back in the bottom half. Jessica Arana got a single to left, then Gutowski drew a walk to put two on base with two out for Struchtemeyer. The junior second baseman came through in the clutch again, this time doubling to the gap in left-center to score two runs.
Ladyjack starter Angela White held the Bobcats scoreless on a pair of hits over the next three frames, then SFA tied the score in the bottom of the sixth. Struchtemeyer got a one-out single to start things off. Then Caruthers just missed a homer when she crushed a single off the top of the wall in right-center, moving Struchtemeyer to third. The next batter, Jones, lifted a sacrifice fly to left-center that was deep enough to plate Struchtemeyer, tying the score.
White retired the Bobcats in order in both the seventh and the eighth innings. The Ladyjacks also went down quietly in the seventh, but Bishop squared up a 1-0 pitch and sent it deep over the wall in right-center to end the game in the eighth.
Struchtemeyer went 2-for-3 with two RBI, and Caruthers was 2-for-3 to lead the way in Game 2. Arana, Bishop and Jones had one hit apiece.
White (13-8) was charged with two earned runs on eight hits and four walks. She struck out three.
The series will conclude Sunday with one game, scheduled for a noon start. SFA's four seniors - Bishop, Harper, Jones and Michele Huffman - will be honored in a brief Senior Day ceremony, scheduled to start at approximately 11:15 a.m.
-- SFA --
