Georgetown, Texas – The Centenary softball team had its season-high four-game winning streak snapped on Friday evening as the Ladies fell 8-5 to the Southwestern University Pirates in the opener of a three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series at Taylor-Sanders Field.
The Ladies (12-15, 7-3 SCAC) and Pirates (9-20, 6-4 SCAC) will complete the series on Saturday with a doubleheader set for 1 and 3 p.m. Live stats and live video are available for Saturday's games at the links below:
Stats: https://www.southwesternpirates.com/sports/w-softbl/2023-24/boxscores/20240405_2edi.xml
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFrmAK-isI
Centenary dropped to 3-9 on the road while Southwestern upped its home record to 5-12. The Ladies began their longest road trip of the season this weekend as the Maroon and White will face Texas Lutheran and St. Thomas away from home in SCAC play following this weekend's series in Georgetown. The Ladies will finish the regular season at home April 27-28 against Trinity.
Sophomore P Riley Myers (Shreveport, La.) started in the circle for the Ladies and took the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season. She lasted just two innings and allowed three runs, all earned, on three hits with four walks and no strikeouts. She faced 13 batters, hit one, and threw 66 pitches – 27 for strikes.
Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) relieved Myers and pitched 1.1 innings and allowed five earned runs and six hits with three BB and one K. She faced 13 batters and threw 19 pitches (11 strikes). Sophomore P Abigail Hodgson (Georgetown, Texas) went the final 2.2 innings and kept the Pirates off the scoreboard and allowed just three hits with no BB and two K's. She faced 11 batters and threw 50 pitches – 36 for strikes.
Hailey Arrington started for Southwestern and received a no-decision as she pitched three innings and allowed two runs, one earned, and three hits with no BB or K as she faced 12 batters and threw 33 pitches, 25 for strikes. Sophia Ytuarte (5-3) relieved Arrington and picked up the win as she went four innings and allowed three runs, all earned, on three hits with a pair of walks and three K's. Se faced 17 batters and threw 54 pitches – 32 for strikes.
The Ladies scored twice in the top of the first and the Pirates answered with one in the bottom half and another single run in the second to tie the game. Southwestern then scored a pair in the third and erupted for four runs in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead. The Ladies, though, did not go away quietly as they scored two in the sixth and one on the seventh but fell short to the Pirates.
Centenary finished with six hits, drew two walks, struck out three times, made one error, and left three on base while Southwestern had 12 hits, walked seven times, struck out three times, left 10 on base, and made two errors.
Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) finished with a game-high three hits as she went 3-3 with an RBI, two runs scored, a walk, and two stolen bases. Sophomore C Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) finished 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored, sophomore SS Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) was 0-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Hodgson was 1-1 with an RBI and a walk.
Five Southwestern hitters collected two hits apiece and 2B Daniella Clark led the way with two RBI as she finished 2-4 with two RBI and a run scored. 3B Brooke Yanta was 0-1 but walked three times and scored a pair of runs. The Pirates hit five doubles and the Ladies had two – one by Cox and one by Thrasher.
The Ladies are off to their best start in conference play since beginning the 2019 campaign 8-0. Centenary entered Friday's action tied for second place in the conference standings with Trinity and just a game behind SCAC leader Texas Lutheran and was one game ahead of St. Thomas. The Pirates entered Friday fifth in the conference standings.
See the complete Ladies' season schedule here: https://centenary.prestosports.com/sports/sball/2023-24/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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