Tech softball wins two of three at Middle Tennessee
The Louisiana Tech softball team fell to Middle Tennessee 5-1 in its series finale on Sunday afternoon at the Blue Raider Softball Field.
The Bulldogs could not overcome a tough day at the plate in addition to three errors and five walks as they dropped their first Conference USA contest of the season. Caroline Easom’s single and doubles by Nicole Hammoude (RBI) and Alannah Rogers highlighted the Bulldogs’ day at the plate.
Katelin Cooper also drew a sixth-inning walk to extend her reached-base streak to five games. Mattison Buster took the loss for the Bulldogs in the circle.
She allowed two earned runs and four hits while striking out one in two innings of work. Middle Tennessee (13-18, 2-4 CUSA) starting pitcher Kamryn Carcich earned the victory while going the distance for the Blue Raiders.
She allowed one run on three hits and struck out two, improving to 8-9 on the season. Despite the loss, Louisiana Tech (19-5, 5-1 CUSA) still won the series with wins in games one and two and is tied for first in the Conference USA standings.
Alexis Gilio was robbed of a base hit by Middle Tennessee third baseman Julia Garcia as the Bulldogs were retired in order in the first. In the bottom of the first, Shelby Echols reached on a leadoff walk aided by an illegal pitch.
Brooke Diaz then threw out Echols, who was attempting to take second for the first out of the inning. Amaya Harris hit a two-out double down the right-field line and would later come around to score a single by Riley Gilmore to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead. Carcich made it six straight Bulldogs retired with a 1-2-3 second inning.
With a runner on first and no outs in the home half, Garcia laid down a sacrifice bunt that Diaz looked to throw out the lead runner at second, but the third base umpire saw differently, and everyone advanced safely. Middle Tennessee took a 2-0 lead on a fielder’s choice combined with a throwing error.
An RBI single from Echols increased the Blue Raiders’ lead to 3-0. The Bulldogs came up empty-handed again during their third trip to the plate. Brook Melnychuk relieved Mattison Buster in the third inning.
An error and a walk put two runners on with one out. Melnychuk got a flyout for the second out of the inning before getting Garcia to line out to Claire Raley at third for the final out of the frame. Carcich continued her success in the fourth by retiring the Bulldogs in order. In the bottom of the fourth, a leadoff single and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Middle Tennessee. Harris then made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly to left for the second out of the inning.
Melnychuk would issue a groundout to limit the damage. The Bulldogs got a run back in the fifth. Caroline Easom led off the inning with a single to shallow right-center field and would come around to score on a Nicole Hammoude double. Middle Tennessee got back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fifth.
Then, with two outs in the inning, the Blue Raiders plated a run on an error to increase its lead to 5-1. Katelin Cooper walked to lead off the sixth inning and then advanced to third on a double by Alannah Rogers, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs but Tech could not capitalize.
“It’s always great to take a series on the road. However, offensively we struggled all weekend and will need to figure some things out on that side of the ball moving forward,” Tech head coach Josh Taylor said. The Bulldogs will be back in action when they host Louisiana-Lafayette for a midweek matchup on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
