BELTON, Texas – The Howard Payne softball team split a conference double header at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 7-4 and 0-12 (5) Friday afternoon. Kayla Boucher hit a grand slam in game one of the DH.

The Lady Jackets rallied late in game one, scoring five runs in the sixth to take the game 7-4 from the Cru. After Tayler Rushing scored on a wild pitch, Kayla Boucher hit a grand slam to give the Lady Jackets advantage in the 6th inning.

"Splitting on day one at UMHB is a big accomplishment. It puts us in a good position to try and win the series on Saturday," said head coach Jose Mata. "We played hard in both games, and if we can match that effort tomorrow then we will be in a good spot to come out with a victory."
 
Howard Payne got two runs earlier in the game scoring two runs in the 3rd. An error by the UMHB third basemen allowed Rachel Hitt and Tonya Thompson to score.
 
Gabrielle Roque finished game one 2-for-3 at the plate and Boucher had 4 RBIs. Madison Witherwax recorded the win in relief throwing four innings, allowing no runs on just one hit and striking out three.

Audrey Simpson went 3.0 innings in the start allowing four runs on seven hits striking out one.

Game two was all UMHB, scoring multiple runs in the second, third and fourth innings. The Cru outhit the Lady Jackets 15-4 in the game.

Howard Payne is now 4-6-1 overall and 2-3 in American Southwest Conference action. UMHB stands at 8-2 overall and 3-2 in league play. The two teams will finish out their weekend series on Saturday with a single game starting at 12:00 noon. Be sure to follow Lady Jacket softball on Twitter @hpusoftball.