Southwestern Trips Up 'Roos on Senior Day

SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College softball team came up short against Southwestern University in both halves of their doubleheader on Saturday, falling 7-3 in game one and 7-5 in game two with the Pirates.

In game one, the Pirates jumped out to an early lead when Brooke Yanta belted a 2-run double, and Southwestern would finish the first leading 3-0. The margin would grow to 7-0 after the second inning, as a pair of errors helped Southwestern push four runs across in the frame. The score remained 7-0 until the bottom of the fifth, when Chyrsi Hemby and Carrie Johnson each brought home a run to make it 7-2, and Tessa Contreras added an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to cut it to a 7-3 game.

However, that's as close as things would get as the 'Roos were unable to complete the rally. Allie Jeter took the loss, giving up seven runs - four earned - on five hits in 3.0 innings of work, and Hailey Arrington got the win for Southwestern after tossing a complete game with three runs on 10 hits. Lyndsey Busch went 2-for-3 to pace Austin College at the plate.

Game two saw the teams scoreless through the first three and a half innings before Austin College erupted for five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a big lead. Kaitlyn Barrett got things started with a 2-run homer, her third home run of the series and sixth on the year, and Joli Kirkpatrick drew a bases loaded walk to plate Busch. Chyrsi Hemby hit a 2-run double to the gap in left to push it to a 5-0 game.

The lead was short-lived, though, as Southwestern came storming all the way back in the top of the fifth to even things up, and two more runs would come across in the sixth to put Southwestern ahead 7-5. Austin College got the tying run aboard in the bottom of the sixth but couldn't generate any more runs over the final two innings. Hailie Swiatkowski absorbed the loss in relief, giving up two unearned runs on just one hit in 2.1 innings of action. Hemby went 2-for-3 to lead Austin College at the plate.