UT Arlington Softball Sweeps Doubleheader
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HAMMOND, La. – UT Arlington opened the 2015 season with a bang on Friday after sweeping Day 1 of the Tangi Tourism Lion Classic.
The Mavericks (2-0) powered three homers and scored 18 runs in the team’s first two games. Sophomore Shelbi Sikes led the Mavs with eight runs batted in, four hits and knocked the third homer of her career in the first inning against Alcorn State.
Senior Nina Villanueva finished with five runs and three runs batted in after notching three hits. UTA’s pitchers allowed just one run in 12 innings pitched and gave up seven hits overall, while striking out 13.
UTA returns to action on Saturday with a pair of games beginning at 12:30 p.m. UTA opens with Nicholls State before completing Day 2 against Omaha at 3 p.m.
Game 1 | UT Arlington 10, Alcorn State 1
Freshman Sandra Mendoza tripled in her first at-bat of her career and the Mavericks never looked back. Villanueva would set the table for Sikes, and the sophomore responded with the team’s first homer of the season over the right-center field wall.
Jolene Schaefer followed it up three batters later with an RBI single and the
Mavs had a 4-0 lead after the top half of the opener.
Alcorn State responded with a run in the bottom half and the teams would go scoreless through until the fifth when UTA’s offense came alive again. Britnea Barilli, Villanueva and Sikes would each have an RBI hit in the fifth.
UTA put the game away in the final inning with another set of three. The Mavs had the bases loaded with no outs when Sikes struck again with a double to left to score two. Rebecca Stokes completed scoring on a sacrifice fly to left to score Mya Anderson.
Freshman Taylor Simmonds pitched four innings to earn the win. Simmonds struck out three, allowed just one earned run and gave way to sophomore Brittany May in the fifth. Fifth struck out a career-high six Alcorn State batters, giving up just one hit.
Game 2 | UT Arlington 8, UT Martin 0
UT Arlington started where it left off and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. Mya Anderson had the first of her team-high three hits to break open scoring. Anderson’s single to right-center field scored Sandra Mendoza and Meagan Michele knocked an RBI single in the next at-bat.
Anderson continued UTA’s offense with a first-pitch blast over the centerfield fence on the first pitch of the fourth inning. Michele would follow it up with a shot of her own on a line drive homer in the same direction.
Two errors continued the inning and the Mavericks would add four more runs to build an 8-0 lead. The Skyhawks were unable to trim the deficit, as UTA would pick up its first run-rule win of the season.
Freshman Kayla Donaldson allowed just two hits to earn the first win of her career. Donaldson struck out four.
