AUSTIN, Texas – Despite dropping two games Friday on the opening day of the Texas Classic, the University of the Incarnate Word softball team showed strong promise entering the final two days of the tournament and the remainder of the season.
UIW (0-2) lost the opener, 14-9, to Colorado State and 2-0 to host Texas. The Cardinals scored nine runs twice in 53 games last season, while, in the two previous games against UT, the combined score was 16-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1: Colorado State 14, UIW 9
CSU (2-0) jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, before the Cardinals got on the board with a pair of runs in the top of the third.
Suzy Soza homered in the top of the fourth to start a four-run inning for the Cardinals. UIW added another run in the next inning with a bases-loaded walk to Victoria Bratcher to bring the deficit to two, 9-7, but the Lions scored five runs in the final two innings.
Soza joined Marcela Lopez, Shelby Neatherlin, Breanna Hernandez, and Teanna Lucio with two hits apiece, while both Bratcher and Lopez led the way with two RBIs each. Hernandez took the loss in the circle, as she allowed six runs in 1.1 innings.
Corina Gamboa – who had one of the Lions' two home runs in the game – led the team with three hits. Bridgette Hutton earned the win in the circle, as she allowed two runs in 2.2 innings from the bullpen.
Game 2: @ Texas 2, UIW 0
An RBI single in the third and RBI triple in the fifth – both by Janae Jefferson – was all the scoring Texas (1-0) needed, as the Cardinals were held to three hits. The two runs scored by Texas were the fewest in a Longhorn win since a 2-0 victory over Kansas on Apr. 28, 2017.
Lopez, Bratcher, and Neatherlin each registered a hit for UIW, while Sarah Leal took the tough loss in the circle, giving up just four hits in the complete-game effort. Jefferson had half of Texas' hits and both RBIs, while Paige Von Sprecken took the win in the circle with two hits allowed.
UP NEXT
UIW plays Colorado State at 10 a.m. and Wisconsin at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
STAY TUNED
The Cardinals conclude the Texas Classic facing the Longhorns on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
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