Austin College Drops Pair to No. 9 TLU

SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College softball team dropped both halves of its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against No. 9-ranked Texas Lutheran University, falling 9-4 in game one and 8-0 in game two. The 'Roos are now 2-23 overall and 2-13 in conference play.

In game one, the Bulldogs took advantage of a pair of defensive miscues to bring two runs around and grab a 2-0 lead, and the margin grew to 4-0 in the second after Linzee Leal doubled home a run and later came around to score on a throwing error. The 'Roos got on the board in the bottom half of the inning when Hailie Swiatkowski scored on an single by Emily Autrey to make it 4-1, but another 'Roo error in the top of the third led to a run for the Bulldogs to make it 5-1.

The TLU lead grew to 7-1 in the fourth, and it became an 8-1 game in the top of the fifth. Austin College got three runs back in the bottom of the inning, with Reagan Brinkley plating Jadyn Myers with a sacrifice fly, and Hannah King doubled to score two more runs to trim it to an 8-4 game. However, that's as close as Austin College would get, and TLU tacked on one more run in the sixth to make it a 9-4 game, which is how the game would conclude.

Lauren Trott went the distance in the circle for the 'Roos to take the loss, giving up nine runs, six earned, on 12 hits, while Ainsley Davis got the win for TLU after surrendering four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings of action. Ashlynn Brothers went 3-for-4 and Autrey and Kassidy Bradshaw each had two hits for the 'Roos.

Game two saw the Bulldogs once again score in the top of the first to take an early lead, going on top 1-0 on a sacrifice fly, and an Austin College error with two outs in the second opened the door for four unearned runs in the frame for TLU to make it 5-0. That remained the score until the fourth, when Taylor Vannett singled to center to bring home a run and make it 6-0. 

The Texas Lutheran lead grew to 7-0 when Hanna Homra scored from third while Leal was caught in a rundown, and Leal later scored in the same situation later in the inning after an infield hit from Caelee Clark to make it 8-0 and end the game after five innings via the run rule.

McKinley Hankins absorbed the loss for Austin College, giving up five runs, only one of which was earned, with zero hits allowed in 1.2 innings of work, while Amanda White got the win for TLU by going the distance and allowed two hits with five strikeouts. Swiatkowski had both hits for Austin College in the loss.