Softball defeats Texas Southern, 9-1 in six innings; Finish weekend undefeated

Sunday, March 2

Austin, Texas

8:00 AM

University of Texas

13-9

Texas Southern

6-10

Texas Southern

Texas

Softball defeats Texas Southern, 9-1 in six innings; Finish weekend undefeated

03.02.2014 | Softball

Box Score

Smith gets third complete game win in three days; Offense compiles 12 hits

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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Softball (13-9, 0-0) defeated Texas Southern, 9-1 in six innings, in the final day of the Texas Invitational. Over the three-day tournament, the Longhorns went 5-0, while run-ruling their last four opponents.

The Longhorns and Lady Tigers played Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. at Red & Charline McCombs Field to avoid inclement weather, which was being predicted for the 2:00 p.m. hour when the game was originally planned to start.

Texas was fueled by another strong pitching performance from junior Gabby Smith. Smith notched her third victory in as many days behind a season-high nine strikeouts, while allowing four hits. The complete-game win improves her record to 8-1 on the season with six complete games, including four straight. On the weekend, Davis combined with freshman Tiarra Davis to hurl five complete games, 34 strikeouts, and an ERA of 1.00.

The offense provided a balanced attack with six different batters recording RBIs. Freshman Stephanie Wong went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and two runs scored. For Wong, it was her first career home run. Senior Brejae Washington had a two-hit performance including an RBI and two runs scored.

Sophomore Lindsey Stephens continued to stay hot in the Texas Invitational by going 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored. Over the past five games, Stephens hit .706 and recorded 10 RBIs, three doubles, two triples and slugged 1.118. The hits by Stephens and Washington extended each player's career-long hit streak to 13 games.

Texas pounded out 12 hits, which marked the fourth-straight contest that it recorded 10 or more base hits.

The Longhorns jumped on the Lady Tigers in the first inning, scoring three runs. Washington dropped down a bunt single and advanced to second on a throwing error by the catcher. Stephens followed with an RBI single to right for the 1-0 lead. With that RBI, Stephens had knocked in at least one run in five-consecutive at-bats. Wong followed with her round-tripper to right to put the Horns in the lead 3-0.

Texas added two in the third with senior Taylor Thom and Washington leading off the inning with singles. Smith helped her cause with a single to right and an error by the right fielder, allowing Thom and Washington to cross the plate.

Smith cruised through the first four innings until the Lady Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. Texas Southern scored their lone run of the game on a sac fly to left. Smith shut the door with her sixth strikeout of the game to keep the lead at 5-1. She continued her dominant performance in the top of the sixth by striking out the side to run her strikeout total to nine, setting a new season high.

The Horns walked off in the sixth inning by scoring four runs to enact the run-rule. Wong led off the inning with a bunt single and freshman Kelli Hanzel followed with a single to right. Sophomore Holly Kern plated a pair of runs with a triple to center field. After tacking on the team's eighth run on senior Mandy Ogle's 100th career hit, the Longhorns loaded the bases with a walk and another bunt single. Washington ended the game with a walk-off sacrifice fly to right to secure the 9-1 victory.

Texas travels to Fullerton, Calif. next weekend to compete in the Judi Garman Classic, which opens on Thursday night against Houston at 7:30 p.m. CT.

TEXAS INVITATIONAL NOTES

Team

- Set a season-high five-game winning streak

- Outscored opponents 42-6

- Hit .492 (64 hits) as a team, while slugging .654

- 14 different players picked up a hit

- Collected five triples, including three versus ULM (3/1)

- Won four consecutive run-rule games for second time in program history

- All five pitching performances resulted in complete games, allowing just 14 hits and 4 earned runs.

- Tiarra Davis and Gabby Smith combined for all 28 innings of work, striking out 34 batters, compiling an ERA of 1.00, while holding opponents to a .140 average

- Did not commit an error over the final three contests

- Improved to 4-0 all-time against Texas Southern. Texas has run-ruled the Lady Tigers in all four meetings.

- Boosted record to 11-0 when scoring six or more runs this season.

Lindsey Stephens

- Hit .706 (12-17) with 10 RBIs

- Slugged 1.118 (19 TBs on 17 ABs)

- Had five extra-base hits (2 doubles, 3 triples)

- Extended current hitting streak to 13 games

Taylor Thom

- Hit .529 (9-17) with four stolen bases

- Notched at least one hit in each of the five games

Brejae Washington

- Hit .643 (9-14) with nine runs and three walks

- Stole five bases

- Extended her current career-long hitting streak to 13 games

Gabby Smith

- Struck out 23 batters in 18 innings of work
- ERA of 1.17

Tiarra Davis

- Allowed just two hits in 10 innings pitched

- ERA of 0.70

Stephanie Wong

- Hit .583 (7-12) with 4 RBIs

- Recorded her first career home run with two-run shot against TSU (3/2)

Holly Kern

- Went 5-for-6 with five RBIs, including two extra-base hits

Stephanie Ceo

- Hit .400 (4-10), including two doubles and a triple

Erin Shireman

- Went 5-for-8 with three RBIs

Kelli Hanzel

- Picked up her first two career hits, including a walk-off single against TSU (3/1)

Mandy Ogle

- Recorded her 100th career hit with a single versus TSU (3/2)

POSTGAME QUOTES

Junior RHP Gabby Smith

On momentum after Texas Invitational: "We have a tough few games coming up in California and that's what Coach [Connie] Clark said. She just wants us to take this momentum into California and just go at it."

Sophomore OF Lindsey Stephens

On Texas Invitational in which she hit .706: "I'm just staying confident and putting in as much work as I can. I'm just staying within myself and working on weaknesses."

Head Coach Connie Clark

On five wins in Texas Invitational: "I don't know if we 'had' to win, but I do feel like we need to make a statement. We said that it's time to make a move, it's time to come together. We needed those three weeks when you have a young group. You need to figure out who are the pitchers that are going to evolve. Who are the athletes - with a couple of open spots - that are going to evolve? You have to come together as a team and deal with some adversity and see how mentally tough you are. I think the three weeks is really a set-up for us to be able to say it's time now. You really are starting to be able to write your script for the 2014 team."

On the Judi Garman Classic: "It's been a difficult schedule up until this point and hopefully that's served us well. Now it's time to go out and put things together and take this momentum from this weekend. We are going to be absolutely challenged with the teams we face out there, but we go in with a lot of confidence. We get another shot at continuing to write that script."