AUSTIN, TX- The Cougars continued their Texas roadtrip with a doubleheader on Friday at St. Edwards. After falling in game one, a gritty performance in game two saw the Cougars claim victory in extra innings by a final score of 6-4.
GAME ONE
The first contest of the day featured a pitchers duel between
Emma Duncan of CCU and the Hilltoppers Haley Carmona. The two shut out their opponent through three innings before SEU broke through in the fourth with a two-run homer.
Another run came home in the fifth off a solo shot for a 3-0 lead for the hosts, and Carmona continued to deal as CCU never managed to advance a runner home the entirety of the contest in an eventual 3-0 defeat.
Duncan was strong in the circle, going all six innings with three strikeouts on 93 pitches thrown.
GAME TWO
The second contest of the day featured a lot of dramatics as the teams battled in a hard fought series finale. A run in the first and three in the second from St. Edwards had the hosts in control 4-0, but the Cougars refused to go down easily.
Camryn Quilling cut the deficit in half with a two RBI double in the fifth, and a solo homer from
Kaila Eastburn in the sixth made it a one run affair. With Eastburn pitching great, the offense got one last chance to tie things in the seventh, and they did just that as
Elyse McMullin singled home Quilling to tie the game at 4-4.
After the Hilltoppers could not bring a run across in the seventh the game went to extra innings. The eighth inning saw Eastburn make it to third but they could not bring her home. The 9th and 10th innings were relatively uneventful, but the 11th was where the Cougars did damage.
After a leadoff single from
Leah Garcia, a
Cheyenne Stark single and hit by pitch issued to Quilling, McMullin stepped up to the plate. The sophomore delivered again, knocking a two RBI single up the middle to break the stalemate and give her team a 6-4 lead. Late dramatics saw the Hilltoppers load the bases in the bottom of the 11th, but
Hanna Espinoza came in for the final out and picked up the save in the thrilling 6-4 win.
After allowing four runs the first two innings, Eastburn settled down and went 10.2 innings with 6 strikeouts on 137 pitches. McMullin paced the offense with 3 timely RBI, and Quilling chipped in two RBI of her own.
The Cougars close play in Texas February 8 with a 10 a.m. MST matchup at St. Mary's (TX).
