ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' Cowgirl softball team split a doubleheader with Mary Hardin-Baylor on Sunday in the opening games of American Southwest Conference play.
 
The Cowgirls dropped game one 5-2 to the Crusaders and Hardin-Simmons won the second game 5-4 with a walk-off RBI from Madi Hubbard in the final inning.
 
The Cowgirls pitched Kelly Shackelford to start in game one and she went three innings in the loss. Akaysia Grogan threw the final four innings with five strikeouts for the Cowgirls.
 
Hardin-Simmons led with an RBI from Caitlin Clem in the second inning, but UMHB scored three in the third and two in the fourth inning to lead 5-1.
 
Bailey Miller drove in a run with a double for the Cowgirls in the fifth inning, but HSU couldn't score again and went down 5-2 in game one.
 
The Cowgirls threw Gabby Montanez in game two, and she went the distance in the win with a strikeout in seven innings pitched. Montanez improved to 10-0 on the year.
 
The Crusaders homered to go up 2-0 in the first inning, but Hardin-Simmons came back with a two-run homer from Emily Jacobs to tie the game 2-2 in the first.
 
UMHB led in the second with a run and the Cowgirls again tied the game on a UMHB error to make it 3-3 in the second inning.
 
The third inning saw both teams score again, with a run from UMHB and the Cowgirls getting an RBI from Hubbard to tie the game 4-4.
 
The Cowgirl defense got out of a jam with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning. Montanez struck out a batter and UMHB popped up to keep the inning scoreless.
 
Hardin-Simmons put the pressure on in their half of the fourth with two hits, but couldn't score to keep the game 4-4.
There was only one hit in the next three innings for either team until Hubbard came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning with a runner on second base from a walk and sacrifice bunt.
 
Hubbard chopped one up the middle and the Cowgirls scored well ahead of the throw to win the game 5-4 with a walk-off single from Hubbard. She finished with two hits and two RBIs to tie Jacobs for the Cowgirl lead in both.
 
The Cowgirls improve to 17-4 and start the conference season 1-1 against UMHB with the series finishing on Monday with two games beginning at 1 p.m. at Ellis Field in Abilene.
 
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