BROWNWOOD, Texas - The Howard Payne University softball team fell 11-0 and 2-1 during a doubleheader versus the University of the Ozarks on Friday evening at Lady Jacket Field.
In in the conference double header, the Lady Jacket pitching staff totaled 18 strikeouts to just nine for Ozarks. Howard Payne was led by
Audrey Simpson with 10 Ks in game one of the double header.
"I was proud of the bull pen, they threw strong enough to win both games today," said head coach
Jose Mata. "We just need to get the offense firing all together at the same time."
In game one, Howard Payne hung tight with the Ozarks through three innings until the Eagles were able to score 11 unanswered runs en route to capturing their first win of the season.
Audrey Simpson pitched a full game, striking out 10 batters over seven innings of play on the mound for the Lady Jackets (2-5, 0-2 ASC) and Hillary Slater finished 1-3 with a double and a walk in the loss.
Howard Payne held the University of the Ozarks (2-0, 2-0 ASC) to a scoreless draw through three innings, as Simpson recorded six of her 10 strikeouts over the time span.
The Eagles were able to get their bats going in the top of the fourth when Katie Ventress homered to left center field to bring in one run and put the Eagles up, 2-0.
Haley Slater responded for the Lady Jackets in the bottom of the inning, doubling to left field to put her squad in scoring position. Howard Payne pushed hard to score the runner but ended up grounding out to end the inning.
The Ozarks offense would go on to score five more runs in the fifth inning to put themselves up 7-0. After a scoreless sixth inning, The Eagles used their final at bat to extend their lead to 11-0 and hang on to secure the final.
In game two, the Lady Jackets used a trio of pitchers to hold the Eagles to seven hits while fanning a combined eight batters on the evening. But the Eagles rallied late and stole a 2-1 victory in nine innings of play.
Tayler Rushing finished the day 2-4 from behind the plate with a run and a walk and
Kodi Glosson brought in Howard Payne's lone run on the day with a RBI single up the middle in the fifth inning to give Howard Payne the late 1-0 lead.
Both sides started the game slow offensively as
Madison Witherwax was able to strike out four batters over the games first 2.5 innings. The third inning was when the game started to get a little more intense as Howard Payne substituted
Tonya Thompson in for Witherwax in the circle.
With runners on first and second, Thompson got the Eagles to popup to end the inning. The Lady Jackets did their best to respond in the bottom of the inning, when
Gabrielle Roque was hit by a pitch and
Rachel Hitt took a walk to put runners on base.
Audrey Simpson singled through the left side and loaded the bases only to have the Ozarks pitching force a ground out to end the inning.
It was a pitching battle the rest of the way until
Tiffany Hinkleman singled to start things off in the fifth inning.
Kodi Glosson then stepped to the plate and drove a hard hit ball to bring around Rushing and put Hinkleman into scoring position at third base. The Ozarks responding by striking out the next batter to end the inning.
Howard Payne took the 1-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning and held it until the final inning of regulation. However, the Eagles came through and picked up a run after a double to center field tying things up at 1-1.
The Lady Jackets were held scoreless to end regulation and the game was pushed into extra innings. It was the ninth inning when the Ozarks picked up an unearned after a hit to left field brought around an Eagle baserunner and put the score at 2-1, Ozarks. They would hold to take the win after forcing Howard Payne into a three up, three down ninth inning.
The two sides will meet again tomorrow at 11:00 AM in the final of three consecutive games against each other. Fans can find a Facebook Live feed of the event at Facebook.com/HPUSports and follow along on Twitter @HPUSoftball and on Instagram @HPUSports for in-game updates, interactive content and more.
