Softball’s late rally comes up short in 3-1 defeat to No. 11/9 Oklahoma

Saturday, April 8

Austin, Texas

1 p.m.

University of Texas

20-17, 0-5

#11/9 Oklahoma

34-7, 5-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Oklahoma	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	7	2
Texas	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	2

Softball’s late rally comes up short in 3-1 defeat to No. 11/9 Oklahoma

04.08.2017 | Softball

Box Score

Longhorns brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the seventh before dropping another close contest

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas softball (20-17, 0-5 Big 12 Conference) brought the go-ahead run to the plate during the bottom of the seventh, but its late rally attempt came up short in another close loss to No. 11/9 Oklahoma (34-7, 5-0 Big 12 Conference) on Saturday afternoon at Red & Charline McCombs Field, 3-1.

The Longhorns offense managed just two hits off a combination of Sooner starting pitcher Mariah Lopez and reliever Paige Lowary. Freshman right fielder Kaitlyn Washington went 1-for-3 with her third career double and a run scored, while senior first baseman Kelli Hanzel posted a 1-for-2 day at the plate with UT's lone RBI.

In the circle for the Burnt Orange & White, senior Tiarra Davis (4-8) took the loss, allowing just one earned run on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts over 5.0 innings. Junior Kristen Clark was solid out of the bullpen for the Longhorns, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out a pair in 2.0 frames of relief.

"I thought we competed pretty well down the stretch of the game, but again we had a lot of opportunities without being quite creative enough to get it done offensively," Texas head coach Connie Clark said. "We watched film on (Lopez), and before the game started, we talked about what the game plan was. I thought we settled into that, but I don't think we were great early at it. We've just got to be a little bit better."

For the second straight day, Oklahoma raced to a first-inning lead over the Longhorns. With second baseman Caleigh Clifton stationed at first after a single, designated player Fale Aviu delivered with two outs by driving a 3-2 offering to the wall in right center for a RBI double as Clifton scored to make it 1-0. Davis limited the damage from the circle by getting center fielder Nicole Pendley swinging to leave a pair of Sooners stranded.

Texas got its first base runner in the bottom of the second as senior third baseman Celina Felix popped up but reached on a catcher's interference call. After freshman left fielder Tuesday DerMargosian took a ball off the helmet to reach, rookie second baseman Kaitlyn Slack stepped to the dish and drove a promising shot to right. OU right fielder Nicole Mendes prevented the Horns from potentially getting on the scoreboard by racing over from her defensive position and making a diving catch as Felix advanced to third. With UT runners at the corners and two down, a fly out to left ended the promising frame.

Clifton got the Sooners back in business by opening the third with a bloop double down the right field line. Following an error on the UT infield that put two on the base paths and a stolen base, Aviu hit a chopper up the first base line. Hanzel fielded the bouncer and tossed home quickly in an attempt to get OU's lead runner. Junior catcher Randel Leahy caught the toss, raced up the line and managed a diving tag on Clifton right at the third base bag to prevent the Sooners from adding to their advantage. From there, Davis escaped another jam with consecutive strikeouts of first baseman Shay Knighten and center fielder Nicole Pendley.

An error on a dropped throw at second in the top of the fifth opened the door for OU to add more during the fifth. With two Sooners in scoring position, Knighten blooped a two-out double into right center allowing the Crimson & Cream to plate a pair of unearned tallies in improving their advantage to 3-0.

Washington managed Texas' initial hit of the contest off Lopez in the bottom of the fifth by driving a two-out double to the wall in left center. That lit a spark under the UT offense as Hanzel immediately chopped a pitch up the middle for a RBI to cut the Longhorns deficit to 3-1.

With Clark preventing the Sooners from adding anything to their advantage in the sixth and seventh frames, Texas tried mounting a rally in its final at-bat.

In the seventh, DerMargosian granted the Horns life by reaching with one down on a miscue by OU third baseman Sydney Romero. With the UT runner within 60 feet of pay dirt on a passed ball, Slack hit a ball up the third-base line. Romero made the grab, turned and tried to tag DerMargosian but failed on the fielder's choice. Unfortunately for Texas, with runners at the corners and the potential winning run at the plate, a 6-4-3 double play ended the Burnt Orange & White's rally attempt.