Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' softball team swept the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets in an American Southwest Conference doubleheader on Friday, winning 9-8 and 5-1 at Ellis Field.
Game one was a shootout, with both teams combining for 24 hits. The Cowgirls came out strong with six runs in the second inning, only to be answered by Howard Payne scoring seven in the third to take the lead.
Aubrianna Salazar hit a sac fly for the first run and Sarah Polanco tripled to score two more. Brittanie Henry singled to score one and Mason McCord homered out of left center to make it 6-0 Cowgirls after two.
The Yellow Jackets rallied for seven runs in the third, but Karis Hessert tied the game with an RBI single in the fourth making it 7-7.
Polanco drove in a run in the fifth to take the lead, but Howard Payne tied the game in the sixth. Sarah Diessner hit a double in the sixth to score Kaylen Washington, which ended up as the winning run for the Cowgirls in the 9-8 win.
Washington started game one and threw three innings with three earned runs allowed with four strikeouts. Haven Williams got the win in relief and threw four innings allowing four hits and one run.
Hessert had three hits in game one and Polanco led with three RBIs and a triple while McCord had two RBIs on the homerun for the Cowgirls.
In game two, Kelly Shackelford got her first career start for the Cowgirls and only allowed one run in the complete game 5-1 victory for Hardin-Simmons.
Kate Tovar drove in the first Cowgirl run in inning number one. Henry tripled to score another in the second and McCord doubled her home to follow to lead 3-0.
Howard Payne scored in the third, but Diessner got the run back with a solo shot homerun for the Cowgirls in the fourth. Tovar got in on the action again in the fifth and banked one off the scoreboard to make it a 5-1 Cowgirl win in game two.
Diessner and Tovar each had two hits in game two and Tovar led with two RBIs.
The sweep moved Hardin-Simmons softball to 12-16 on the season and 8-8 in ASC play. Howard Payne falls to 12-15 and 7-11 in conference. The series wraps up tomorrow at noon and will include the Cowgirl Softball Senior Day.
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