The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
21-15
Texas State
19-19
Thom homers twice; Softball run-rules Texas State, 19-7
04.02.2014 | Softball
Longhorns score the second-most runs in program history; Hit season-high four home runs
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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Softball (21-15) used 15 hits and a season-high four home runs to produce 19 runs, the second-most in program history, to run-rule Texas State, 19-7 in five innings at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Wednesday night.
Senior Taylor Thom belted two home runs, including a grand slam, en route to seven RBIs to lead the offensive attack. Thom's slam was her fifth all-time, good for most in Texas history.
Junior Gabby Smith relieved freshman Tiarra Davis in the third and picked up the win to improve to 10-3 on the year. The two pitchers combined for six strikeouts on the night.
In the home half of the first, Texas pounded out five-consecutive hits to begin the game, leading the Longhorns to a four-run inning. Senior Brejae Washington and sophomore Lindsey Stephens notched infield singles to extend their reached-base streaks to 27 and 37-straight games, respectively.
Thom followed with a bomb over the left field fence to put the Longhorns up 3-0. Freshman Stephanie Wong kept the inning alive with a single to left and proceeded to steal her eighth base of the year. Davis knocked home Wong with a single through the right side to extend the lead to 4-0.
When the Horns returned to the plate, freshman Devon Tunning and Washington picked up hits and Thom walked to load the bases. The pinch-runner, sophomore Stephanie Ceo, scored when Texas State's catcher was called for catcher's interference, putting Texas up 5-0.
Davis followed with a deep fly ball that was dropped by the left fielder, allowing all three base-runners to score. Kern hit a single to left and Davis scored on a fielding error. Kern capped off the inning when she scored on the wild pitch to put Texas up 10-0 after two innings.
Texas State (19-19) scored five runs in the third to cut Texas' lead in half, 10-5. The Bobcats manufactured five runs on five hits, including a Courtney Harris two-run home run over the left field wall.
The Longhorns added two more runs in the third, thanks to two more long balls. Tunning led off with her first collegiate home run. Three batters later, Stephens smashed her Big 12-leading 11th homer of the year. Stephens also leads the Big 12 in triples (4) and RBIs (45).
Texas State would score twice more in the fourth, using RBIs from Kortney Koroll and Katie Doerre to cut the deficit to 12-7 after four and a half innings.
Texas tied a season-high with seven runs in the fourth inning to take an unsurmountable 19-7 lead. Tunning picked up her career-best third hit of the game with an RBI-double that also gave her a season-high three RBIs. After Washington walked, Stephens was hit by a pitch to score senior Karina Scott. With two outs, Thom blasted a 2-2 pitch over the right-center field wall for her fifth career grand slam.
Texas hosts Texas Tech in a three-game Big 12 series beginning Friday at 4:30 p.m. All three games will be broadcasted on Longhorn Network.
POSTGAME NOTES
Team Notes
- Texas improves to 32-9 all-time against Texas State, including nine straight wins.
- The Longhorns are 7-2 over their last nine games to stretch their record to 21-15.
- The Texas bats produced 19 runs, good for second-most in Texas Softball history. On Feb. 9, 2012, Texas scored 23 runs in a shutout win over Cal State Fullerton.
- Five different Longhorns had multiple hits, while eight different Texas batters notched at least one hit.
- Led off the game with a season-high five consecutive hits.
- Went 3-for-3 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
- Hit two home runs in a game for the third time in her career and first time this season.
- Hit her fifth career grand slam.
- Now has 221 career hits, good for sixth-best in program history.
- Went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, which are both season highs.
- Swatted her first collegiate home run in the third inning.
- Hitting 5-for-6 in her last three games with four RBIs.
- Went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs.
- Leads the Big 12 in triples (4), home runs (11), RBIs (45) and total bases (97).
- Extended her reached-base streak to 37 games, including all 36 contests this season.
- Went 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored
- Extended reached-base streak to 27 games.
- Hitting .767 (13-17) over last six games.
- Scored three runs to give her 169 in her career, good for second-most in program history.
- Washington's 52 hits this year leads the Big 12 conference.
- Notched at least one RBI in her last three games.
- Pitched the final 2.2 innings to improve to 10-3 on the year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smith, Gabby (10-3)
L: House,Rayn (16-12)
Batting:
2B: Harris,Courtney 1
HR: Harris,Courtney 1
RBI: Baker,Kelli 1 ; Harris,Courtney 2 ; Koroll,Kortney 1 ; Doerre,Katie 1 ; Wiley,Kendall 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Baker,Kelli 1 ; North,Timishia 1 ; Harris,Courtney 2 ; Koroll,Kortney 1 ; Doerre,Katie 1 ; Masek,Jordan 1
Batting:
2B: Wong, Stephanie 1 ; Tunning, Devon 1
3B: Smith, Gabby 1
HR: Stephens, Lindsey 1 ; Thom, Taylor 2 ; Tunning, Devon 1
RBI: Stephens, Lindsey 2 ; Thom, Taylor 7 ; Wong, Stephanie 1 ; Davis, Tiarra 1 ; Smith, Gabby 1 ; Tunning, Devon 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Washington, Brejae 3 ; Stephens, Lindsey 3 ; Thom, Taylor 3 ; Wong, Stephanie 3 ; Davis, Tiarra 1 ; Smith, Gabby 1 ; Kern, Holly 1 ; Scott, Karina 1 ; Tunning, Devon 2 ; Ceo, Stephanie 1
SB: Wong, Stephanie 1
HBP: Stephens, Lindsey 1 ; Smith, Gabby 1
