-Mike McBride, Sports Director
(Salem, Va.) – Texas Lutheran used a pinch-hit two-run homer from Laura Hernandez and a walk-off RBI single from Rebecca Snow in the bottom of the seventh inning to come back from a 3-1 deficit and edge Tufts 4-3 in the first game of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship on Thursday at Moyer Park in Salem, Virginia.
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Kelly Jurden walked and eventully came home on Skylar Oulette’s RBI double with two outs.
Michelle Adelman launched a two-run home run in the top of the third to put Tufts in front 2-1. The Jumbos pushed the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth when Rachel Moore singled in Casey Maggiore’s pinch runner Vanessa Ventkatamaran.
Sydney Oulette replaced Ashlyn Strother in the pitcher’s circle for TLU after the Jumbos’ third run.
Oulette, the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the Seguin, Texas Regional last weekend, worked around two hits and two runners reaching on errors to strike out three and keep the Jumbos scoreless over the final 3-2/3 innings. With the relief win, she moved her season record to 15-2.
“She pitched really well today,” TLU head coach Wade Wilson said. “Sydney was lights out. She threw three-and-two-thirds, and she gave up two hits. That’s pretty good.”
The Bulldogs had runners in scoring position in the second, third, and fourth innings, but were unable to drive them in. Sarah Metzer and Hailey Padilla each doubled during that stretch.
Kelly Jurden led off the bottom of the third with a walk, Casey Martin singled, Snow put down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners, and the Bulldogs had two in scoring position with one out. Tufts starter Kristina Haghden coaxed a grounder Skylar Oulette that resulted in Jurden being thrown out at the plate, and followed with a strikeout of McKay Bloxham for the final out.
Haghden allowed just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts over the first six innings, but Tufts sent reliever Kristi Van Meter in to replace her and face TLU’s No. 7 – 9 hitters in the bottom of the seventh.
Padilla led off the frame with a walk and was replaced at first by pinch runner Kirsten Williams.
After a Metzer pop fly to left field for the first out, TLU sent Hernandez on the pinch hit for Kali Chatham in the nine-hole. Hernandez had just ripped the walk-off RBI single in the Bulldogs’ 10-2 run-rule win over Emory & Henry for the Seguin Regional title four days earlier.
Hernandez found the perfect pitch to swing at with a full count and launched it over the left field fence to knot things up at 3-3.
“She’s seeing the ball well right now, and just her competing in her at-bat is what I’ve loved,” Wilson said of Hernandez’s pinch hitting efforts. “I was going to hit her there in the fifth when Kali (Chatham) was up the time before, but there was nobody on base, and I didn’t want to waste her in that situation. When it came back up, we had somebody on base, and she did her job. Clutch.”
Jurden singled, stole second, took third on a Martin groundout, and trotted home for the winning run when Snow smoked a base hit through the middle to center field.
The win moves TLU’s season record to 33-4, and extends the team’s winning streak to 25 games. The Bulldogs face DePauw in a winner’s bracket game Friday at 2 p.m. Central. DePauw edged Wisconsin-Oshkosh 2-1 in Thursday’s first game.
Friday’s TLU – DePauw game will air live on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com. The start time could be delayed, depending on the preceding games. Pre-game coverage starts 10 minutes before the first pitch.