The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Georgia
Late rally falls short as No. 12 Softball falls to No. 10 Georgia, 11-5
05.10.2010 | Softball
May 10, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas -- After trailing by 11 in the early going the No. 12 Texas Softball team rallied to score five runs, but its rally fell short as No. 10 Georgia outlasted the Horns, 11-5, Monday night. The loss dropped the Longhorns to 41-12 on the season and improved the Bulldogs to 43-10.
Texas freshman righthander Blaire Luna (28-7) was roughed up in the loss, surrendering eight runs (seven earned), on eight hits, walking one and fanning three in 2.0 innings of work. Freshman reliever Kim Bruins spelled Luna with 5.0 innings of effective relief in which she allowed three runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out two. Georgia starter Allison Owen (13-1) earned the victory, tossing 4.2 innings, giving up five runs on six hits, walking two and striking out three.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, sending nine batters to the plate and taking advantage of four hits and a Texas error. Taylor Schlopy led off the frame with a single through the middle and a double by Megan Wiggins put two runners in scoring position. An RBI single by Alisa Goler plated Schlopy before Brianna Hesson reached on an error and plated Wiggins. Ashley Razey drew a bases loaded walk to push the third tally across and an RBI groundout by Brittney Hubbard capped the scoring.
Georgia kept the heat on in the second, using back-to-back double by Schlopy and Wiggins to move the score to 5-0.
In the third, the Dogs tacked on six more runs, starting the rally with a leadoff solo homer from Razey. Laura Trout was hit by a pitch afterwards and came home when Hubbard ripped a two-run home run to centerfield. Schlopy and Wiggins posted consecutive singles to put two more runners aboard before a three-run home run by Goler widened the Bulldogs lead to 11-0.
Texas got on the board in the bottom of the third when senior centerfielder Brittany Chalk launched a leadoff home run down the leftfield line to trim the lead to 11-1.
The Horns avoided the run-rule in the fifth, plating four runs on three hits to cut the margin to 11-5. Chalk kickstarted the rally with a one-out single through the left side and sophomore leftfielder Courtney Craig followed with a walk. A single through the left side by freshman righfielder Taylor Hoagland loaded the bases for Texas and a wild pitch allowed Chalk to race home. Sophomore first baseman Lexy Bennett added a sacrifice fly to rightfield that plated Craig to cut the lead to 11-3.
Texas scored its final two runs on junior catcher Amy Hooks' 10th home run of the year - a two-run shot- that narrowed the Georgia lead to six.
Chalk headlined the Texas offense on the night with a season-high three hits, including her second home run of the season.
Texas returns to action on Saturday, May 15 at the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, Okla. The top-seeded Longhorns will meet the winner of the first-round No. 8 Baylor/No. 9 Iowa State match-up on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Central.
Post Game Notes
- Brittany Chalk's three-hit game was her third multi-hit game of the season and the 12th of her UT career.
- Amy Hooks' two-run home run in the fifth was her 10th of the season and 22nd of her career. Her 22 home runs rank fourth all-time in the UT career record books.
- The eight runs Blaire Luna surrendered marked the most runs she has allowed in a single game this season.
- Kim Bruins' 5.0 innings of relief marked her longest outing since throwing 5.2 innings at UTSA on March 30.
Post Game Quotes
Head coach Connie Clark
On what the rally says about the team: I was more pleased than I was yesterday. Yesterday, I had to get on them during a timeout, saying I thought we stopped playing Texas Softball. Today, the captains got them together and said that we need to just keep playing. We have to stay in the mindset that we can win. We chipped away and were able to build some momentum. We were just a little bit late to start that.
On Blaire Luna's struggles today: I thought Georgia was very well-prepared. They came in with a game-plan. It looked like they studied some film on her. There were different hitters than they had yesterday to face Blaire. I thought they were working the contact today and not coming out of their shoes like they did yesterday. They just tried to punch the ball in play and not do too much. We kicked the ball around a little as well and added to the madness.
On what made Georgia a tough opponent: I thought they were very aggressive. What we talked about just now, is that they were the hungrier team. And that's unfortunate and we talked about you coming off the high of winning conference and you grind it out. I really felt like it was the hangover after winning the championship. I told them that the nice thing is that it's almost like a regional matchup there and at least we're not done with our season. We're going to be out here bright and early because we have to work on some things if we're going to accomplish what we set out to accomplish.
On getting the hunger back for the Big 12 tournament: Hopefully some hard workouts in the morning will get us recommitted to something we want to do and forget that we just won a championship. That's over, and we're done celebrating that now. It's time to move forward and start taking care of the things we need to take care of.
Senior outfielder Brittany Chalk
On the rally in the fifth inning: It lets everyone know we can do it. Putting one up on the board and getting the rally started, just let our team know we can do this, we can come back. We've put up more runs than that in a game before, so it was a big turning point for us.
On playing against Georgia: Georgia's a great team; they hit the ball very well. They hit all of our pitchers very well. But I do think we struggled, we got tested a lot more than in the past defensively. They had a good pitcher on the mound, but we've seen just as good of pitchers. It was definitely a tough weekend for us.
On how Big 12 play has prepared the team: We have one of the toughest conferences, I think, having four or five ranked teams. I just think Georgia came out here more ready than we were, and they put the bat on the ball and we didn't.
On how this series will affect the team for the conference tournament: I think this will definitely push us. We're going to want to rebound, and we're going to be hungry for some wins. This hurt a lot for us, we're not used to having a team put this many runs on the board, so we're going to put it all out on the field.
On this week's approach: This week we're going to prepare like it's any other game. We've seen everyone, but we're going to go out there and play our best every time. It's going to be fun.
On preference of playing Baylor or Iowa State: Both games would be fun games. We went to Iowa State and they gave us a good game, and Baylor always gives us a run for our money. Either would be a good team to play. We're not picky.
Junior catcher Amy Hooks
On the fifth-inning home run: I was just thinking that we need to score Taylor (Hoagland). We came out that inning and got a lot of girls on bases, and we were starting to roll. It was just a little too late.
On the pressure to make something happen: I just went up there looking for a hit, and fortunately, I got the home run. We got up a little bit, but I knew I just had to score Taylor (Hoagland).
On playing against Georgia: They're a great team, and I think that we just came out and won the Big 12, and we were on a bit of a high. They came in here and put us on our heels, so we just need to get back to work for the Big 12 tournament.
On how Big 12 play has prepared the team: I think the Big 12 is a tough conference. We will just get back to work and work on the little things.
On this week's approach: I think you're going to see a lot of kids out here coming out and working on stuff on their own, just trying to tweak some things. We'll have practice, and grind through that and hopefully go to the tournament and make a statement after this series.
On if the losses will refocus the team: I think so, it shows that we have some areas we need to improve on. We have some stuff we need to get back to work on this week. We're looking at the Big 12. Then we're looking at regionals, so we have to take it one game at a time.
On if the Georgia series put the team out of rhythm: I don't think so. We knew from day one that we had these between these conference play and the Big 12 tournament. We came out here and had to grind through a lot of things today. I think that at practice, we'll shore them up and go into the tournament strong.
