The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Washington
Softball falls to No. 24 Washingon, 5-3, to end season at NCAA Houston Regional
05.17.2008 | Softball
HOUSTON -- The Texas Softball team received a 5.2 scoreless inning relief effort by sophomore righthander Torrey Schroeder, but managed just three hits as it fell to No. 24 Washington, 5-3, Saturday night at the NCAA Houston Regional. The Longhorns loss eliminated UT from the NCAA Championship after posting a 1-2 record in NCAA Regional play.
Texas finished the season with a 29-23-2 mark, while Washington improved to 30-24-1 and advanced to play No. 10 Houston on Sunday, May 18.
Longhorns' senior starter Meagan Denny (21-11) was saddled with the loss after going 1.1 innings, surrendering five runs on three hits and striking out two. Schroeder came on in reliefe in the second and scattered four hits in 5.2 innings of work, fanning three and walking one. Huskies' starter Caitlin Noble (13-8) earned the victory for Washington, throwing 4.0, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out one. Washington reliever Aleah Macon threw the final 3.0 innings, without allowing a single UT baserunner.
Washington leapt out to a 3-0 edge in the first, taking advantage of two hits and one Texas error to grab the early lead. Rightfielder Bailey Stenson led off the frame with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and came home on catcher Alicia Blake's RBI single, giving UW a 1-0 lead. Texas hit the next batter and Blake came around to score on shortstop Morgan Stewart's RBI single. The Huskies tallied their final run when Denny issued a bases loaded walk to Alyson McWherter, allowing Jace Williams to score after she had reached on a walk of her own.
The Huskies tacked on two more runs in the second, using a two-run home run by Blake to score Stenson and push the Washington lead to 5-0.
The Longhorns added a run of their own in the home half of the second when junior catcher Kacie Gaskin reached on a leadoff single and advanced two extra bases on a UW error. Freshman rightfielder Brittany Barnhill's RBI groundout scored Gaskin from third and moved the score to 5-1.
Texas closed the margin to two in the fourth when sophomore rightfielder Brittany Chalk hammered her fourth home run of the season to shrink the lead to 5-3. Gaskin preceded Chalk and reached on a fielder's choice, before coming home on Chalk's two-run blast to straightaway centerfield.
The Longhorns concluded the regular season with a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 Conference and advanced to their fourth straight NCAA Regional.
NCAA REGIONAL NOTES
- Texas is making its ninth NCAA Regional appearance in its 12-year softball history.
- The Longhorns' loss moves UT to 19-10 all-time in NCAA Regional play.
- Texas has now won at least one game in each of the nine NCAA Regionals that it has played.
- Sophomore pitcher Torrey Schroeder's 5.2-outing was her longest outing since Feb. 23, 2008 when she threw 6.2 innings in Texas' 11-9 win over Oregon State.
- Torrey Schroeder retired the final seven Washington batters that she faced.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Connie Clark
General statement: It is tough to be done. At Texas this is a little bit earlier than we like to be finished with our season, but overall we are a fairly young club and we came out and competed well today. I liked the way we played the entire game against Washington, staying in the game and really competing hard. Torrey Schroeder came in and did a fantastic job for us and Brittany Chalk delivered a big hit that helped us stay in the game. You have to tip your hat to Washington and at the same time go back to work and hope to improve on our inconsistencies next year.
On Texas' pitching: We tried to take a game plan into the game with Meagan Denny tonight and attack some weaknesses that we thought we were going to be able to exploit. She ended up having some control issues and brought the ball over the plate, which you can't do when you are facing a quality ball club like Washington. We needed to make a pitching change and Torrey (Schroeder) came in, kept it simple, hit her spots and played great defense as well.
JUNIOR 2B Kelly Melone
On her lineout in the first inning: I was surprised it was caught, but she made a great play on the ball. At that time I was just trying to put the ball in play and trying to move the runners around, but unfortunately she made a great play while our runners were being aggressive and we ended up getting doubled off. It was a momentum changing moment because if she doesn't make that play we may have scored some runs in the first. We were just being aggressive and that happens sometimes when you are being aggressive.
SOPHOMORE OF Brittany Chalk
On her home run: It felt good. I was down 0-2 and I wasn't expecting to see the same pitch, but she came right back with the same pitch and I was able to put the bat on the ball. She threw me an outside curve ball and it was too good not to swing at. I think the homer was a good momentum change for our team because we got excited and we knew we were back in the ball game.
SOPHOMORE OF Torrey Schroeder
On her performance: I just went out there and did what I do every day in practice whether I am throwing to live batters or just throwing in the bullpen. I came in and was throwing my best pitches and was hoping to get groundballs and get each out one-by-one.
