Iowa defeats Softball, 6-5, to even series

Sunday, March 16

Austin, Texas

4:00 PM

University of Texas

17-14

Iowa

5-11

Iowa

Texas

03.16.2014 | Softball

Box Score

Shireman collects two RBIs; Iowa hits grand slam to go ahead late.

Box Score (PDF) | Twitter

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Softball fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 6-5, Sunday evening at Red & Charline McCombs Field. The three-game series is now tied 1-1 after Texas won on Saturday 9-1 in five innings.

Sophomore Erin Shireman drove in two runs, giving her three RBIs for the series while sophomore Lindsey Stephens extended her reached-base streak to 32 games with a third-inning RBI-single. The right-fielder Stephens now has a team-leading 40 RBIs on the year, one shy of cracking the top 10 list for RBIs in a single season in program history.

Iowa pitcher Shayla Starkenburg took the win to improve to 2-2, while freshman Tiarra Davis took over in the seventh inning and was dubbed the loss, dropping her to 6-7 after allowing a seventh-inning grand slam from senior Michelle Zoeller to give the Hawkeyes a 6-5 lead.

Iowa (5-11) scored first in the second to take the 1-0 lead. Zoeller led off with a triple just out of the reach of Stephens' glove in right field. Navarro collected an RBI on her fielder's-choice bunt. The Hawkeyes would load the bases, causing the Longhorns to bring freshman Lauren Slatten in to pitch. Slatten delivered with a strikeout and groundout to escape the inning.

Texas (17-14) got on the board with a three-spot in the third to take a 3-1 lead. After Thom reached on a fielder's choice, the shortstop stole second and senior Brejae Washington walked to put two runners aboard. Stephens laced a single to right, scoring Thom to tie the game at one run apiece. Shireman followed with a two-run single to right, scoring Washington and Stephens to put the Longhorns up, 3-1, after three innings.

Following a pair of scoreless frames, Iowa drew closer in the sixth to make it 3-2. Slatten walked three straight batters to load the bases for the Hawkeyes with two outs, which caused head coach Connie Clark to bring in Davis. Alyssa Navarro scored when Davis mishandled the grounder from Brianna Luna. Davis struck out Erickson to end the frame.

Texas would stretch their advantage in the bottom half of the sixth, plating two more runs to give the home team a 5-2 lead. Wong hit a one-out single to the shortstop, outrunning the throw. After Wong stole second, junior Marlee Gabaldon smacked a pinch-hit RBI-single to left field and advanced on the throw to put two runners in scoring position. Sophomore Holly Kern delivered with an RBI-single to right to score Wong. Rachel Scott pinch-hit for Tunning and gave Texas its fifth run with a single to left field, bringing home Gabaldon.

Iowa mounted a last-inning comeback to take the lead 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning. Iowa's first three batters reached base on a single, walk, and hit-batter. Zoeller smashed a grand slam over the right-center field fence to put the Hawkeyes ahead by a run. Davis ended the frame with consecutive strikeouts and a groundout.

The Longhorns made one last effort in the home half of the seventh, but the rally fell short. Thom led off with her team-leading 21st walk of the season and Washington got on with a bunt-single. Stephens sac-bunted both runners over for the first out of the inning, but Shireman and Wong were retired to end the ballgame.

POSTGAME NOTES

Iowa evened the all-time record against Texas 2-2. All four contests have been played in Austin.
Lindsey Stephens recorded her team-leading 40th RBI of the season. She is one away from T-10^th all-time for RBIs in a single season.
Stephens has reached base in all 31 games this season and 32 consecutive games, dating back to the 2013 finale.
Erin Shireman notched her third multi-RBI game of the season with a two-out single in the 3rd to score a pair of runs.
Lauren Slatten pitched 4.1 innings in relief, allowing just one hit and zero earned runs.
Rachel Scott collected her second RBI of the season on a pinch-hit single in the sixth. Scott is now 4-for-5 in her last three games and hitting .500 for the season (6-for-12).
Brejae Washington went 2-for-2 with a run scored. Washington has scored a run in 22 of Texas' 31 games this season.
Holly Kern went 2-for-3 with an RBI to give her eight multi-hit games this season, good for fourth-most on the team.