The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State upends Softball, 8-1
04.05.2008 | Softball
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Softball team recorded just one run on six hits as it dropped its second straight Big 12 Conference game, falling to Oklahoma State, 8-1, Saturday afternoon at McCombs Field. The Longhorns and Cowgirls return to action at noon on Sunday, April 6 in game two of their two-game conference series.
Texas (18-14-2, 4-3 Big 12) used all four of its pitchers in the contest with senior righthander Meagan Denny (13-5) suffering the loss. Denny tossed 3.2 innings, surrendering four runs on five hits and striking out five before giving way to sophomore reliever Erin Tresselt. In two innings of relief, Tresselt allowed four runs on four hits. Freshman righthander Brittany Barnhill tossed 0.1 innings of relief in the sixth and sophomore reliever Torrey Schroeder threw a scoreless seventh. Oklahoma State (18-17, 2-2 Big 12) received a six-hit complete game effort from starter Anna Whiddon, who allowed just one run, while striking out five and walking one.
The Cowgirls scored the game's first tally in the third, taking a 1-0 lead on first baseman Kim Kaye's RBI single that scored Mariah Gearhart and gave OSU an early edge. Oklahoma State tacked on three more runs in the fourth, using one walk, a base hit and a single to load the bases with two outs. Pinch runner Sarah Carriger scored from third on a passed ball, and Gearhart and Jessica Meza raced home on second baseman Alysia Hamilton's two-run single that pushed the Cowgirls advantage to 4-0.
Oklahoma State added four more runs in the fifth, using three hits, two wild pitches and one UT error to claim an 8-0 lead. Gearhart kicked off the scoring with a single and moved to second when Katelyn Bright walked. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position and a Longhorn's throwing error on Hamilton's fielder's choice allowed Gearhart to score. Bright was erased when Kaye reached on a fielder's choice, but back-to-back singles scored Hamilton and Kaye to push the lead to 7-0. The Cowgirls recorded their final tally on a wild pitch by Barnhill.
The Longhorns scored their lone run in the bottom of the sixth inning, starting the rally with a leadoff single by sophomore shortstop Loryn Johnson. Senior pinch runner MicKayla Padilla stole second to move into scoring position and moved to third on sophomore designated player Tallie Thrasher's groundout. Junior second baseman Kelly Melone followed with a sacrifice fly, plating Padilla and pushing the score to 8-1.
Texas returns to action at noon on Sunday, April 6 when it concludes its two-game series with Oklahoma State.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Connie Clark
On the sloppiness of the game: My first focus is on the pitching staff. I think the positive thing is, we were able to get Erin [Tresselt] and Torrey [Schroeder] in the game and it's been a little while since we've gotten them some game work. I thought their presence was very good and solid. On the flip side of that, unfortunately, 10 extra opportunities isn't going to get it done. Hit-by-pitches and walks means that we aren't trusting our stuff enough. We're probably trying to do a little bit too much instead of trusting ourselves and hitting the spots. That was evident today and unfortunately, it cost us the game. I think that goes across the board for all of our pitchers. We had a discussion just now to try to sure some things up before tomorrow. They most definitely need to be better. We're so diverse as a staff and we need to take advantage of that. Over the course of the past few games, we've had a couple of pitchers throwing and not pitching and not trusting their stuff.
On the offense of the team: You never really want your offense to get caught up in what the pitching staff is doing. But obviously, the game is about momentum, and unfortunately, we gave them some momentum and that affected us offensively. We were a little bit quiet in warm-up, so I don't know if we had the intensity to start. We just encouraged them for tomorrow, because it's a new day and they need to come into their warm-up and have a good approach towards the game. They need to bring the intensity and the focus. Hopefully, we can carry that over, because our offense has been very good over the past five games.
