The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
27-6, 1-0
Iowa State
17-11, 0-1
No. 10 Softball gets Elish no-hitter & grand slam in 11-0 (5 inn.) win over Iowa State
03.22.2019 | Softball
Junior Miranda Elish tossed her second career no-no and hit a game-ending grand slam in the fifth
AUSTIN, Texas – On Friday night in the Big 12 Conference opener at Red & Charline McCombs Field, junior pitcher Miranda Elish tossed her second career no-hitter and ended the game early on her first career grand slam as No. 10/11 Texas softball (27-6, 1-0 Big 12) got league play off to a dominant start over Iowa State (17-11, 0-1 Big 12), 11-0 (5 inn.).
Important Notes
- Elish's no-hitter was the second of her career (perfect game at Oregon against Portland State on April 3, 2018), the second for the Longhorns this season (Shealyn O'Leary vs. Longwood back on March 6) and the 48th all-time in program history.
- This marks the first time since the 2010 season that Texas has had two pitchers toss individual no-hitters in the same year (Blaire Luna & Kim Bruins).
- With the early victory, Texas has now run-ruled 13 opponents this season, just one from tying the program record of 14 run-rule wins established by both the 2011 & 2014 Longhorns squads.
- With four more runs in the fourth inning against Iowa State on Friday, Texas has now outscored opponents in the fourth inning this year by a staggering total of 67-8. In all, 31% of Texas' total run production has come during the frame.
- Texas is now a perfect 20-0 when scoring first in a game this season.
Major Players
Elish also led the charge at the plate by going 2-for-4 with her first career grand slam and five RBIs, while sophomore second baseman Janae Jefferson went 2-for-2 with a walk, a run and two RBIs. Redshirt junior center fielder Reagan Hathaway was 1-for-4 with a run and RBI, freshman shortstop McKenzie Parker was 1-for-2 with a run and RBI and junior left fielder Kaitlyn Washington scored three times while going 1-for-3 at the dish.
In the Circle
In her dominant performance, Elish (8-4) faced just one Cyclones batter over the minimum, walked one and struck out eight over 5.0 innings of work.
The Details
After leaving two runners stranded during the bottom of the first, the Horns didn't miss out on another scoring chance in the second.
Parker opened the assault with a base knock to right and moved to second as Iowa State misplayed junior third baseman Shannon Rhodes' sacrifice bunt. With the bags packed after a failed fielder's choice attempt to second, senior right fielder Ki'Audra Hayter hit a chopper to second that was misplayed by the Cyclones to allow two runs to score. Jefferson soon made it 3-0 Longhorns on a sacrifice fly to left center.
With Elish in firm control from the circle, the Longhorns blew the contest wide open in the bottom of the fourth, sending 10 batters to the plate while scoring four times. A Rhodes leadoff hit-by-pitch and an error put two Texas runners aboard with one out. That's when the fireworks began as RBI singles from Hathaway and Jefferson, a run-scoring fielder's choice, and walks to both sophomore catcher Mary Iakopo and Parker combined to make it 7-0.
From there, the only thing left to see was whether the Burnt Orange & White would manage to end the game via run-rule. They did just that in the bottom of the fifth as singles from Washington and Jefferson, as well as a Bekah Alcozer walk, set the stage for Elish's game-ending grand slam down the right field line to finalize the score at 11-0 (5 inn.).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Elish, Miranda (8-4)
L: Hylen (9-4)
Batting:
HR: Elish, Miranda 1
RBI: Hathaway, Reagan 1 ; Jefferson, Janae 2 ; Elish, Miranda 5 ; Parker, McKenzie 1
SH: Rhodes, Shannon 1
SF: Jefferson, Janae 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hathaway, Reagan 1 ; Jefferson, Janae 1 ; Elish, Miranda 1 ; DerMargosian, Tuesday 1 ; Parker, McKenzie 1 ; Rhodes, Shannon 1 ; Washington, Kaitlyn 3 ; Hayter, Ki'Audra 1 ; Alcozer, Bekah 1
SB: Hathaway, Reagan 1
HBP: Rhodes, Shannon 1
