Ladies Swept in Saturday Doubleheader By Celts

Houston- The Centenary softball team was swept in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon by the University of St. Thomas Celts, falling 6-1 in game one and 12-10 in game two at the West University Softball Association Complex.

The Ladies (13-21, 8-9 SCAC) and Celts (21-9, 14-3 SCAC) will complete the series on Sunday with a single game set for Noon. Centenary, 4-15 on the road this season, aims to snap a six-game losing streak overall that started last weekend when the Ladies lost all three at nationally-ranked Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.

Live stats and live video are available for Sunday's game at the links below: 

Stats: https://ustcelts.com/sports/sball/2023-24/boxscores/20240421_do1v.xml 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js_x8mpwyP0 

Game one recap: St. Thomas 6 Centenary 1

The Ladies scored one in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead by the Celts answered in the bottom half with a pair to take a 2-1 lead. UST then added two in the third and two more in the fourth and then three scoreless innings followed as the Celts secured the win in the first half of the DH.

Centenary finished with five hits, drew four walks, only struck out one time, left seven on base, and made one error. St. Thomas also finished with five hits and an error and drew 10 walks, struck out twice, and left nine on base.

Sophomore P Alexis Roach (Pineville, La.) started in the circle for the Ladies and took the loss to fall to 1-5 as she went three innings and allowed six runs, four earned, on just four hits with 10 walks and no strikeouts and allowed one home run. She faced 20 batters, hit three, and threw 84 pitches – 40 for strikes.

Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) relieved Roach and worked the final three innings and blanked the Celts while allowing just one hit with two walks and a pair of K's. She faced 13 batters and threw 51 pitches (31 strikes).

Allison Hughes (10-2) went the distance for the Celts as she allowed just one unearned run and five hits with four walks and one K in her seven innings of work. She faced 29 batters and threw 88 pitches – 56 for strikes.

Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) led off the game with a walk and stole second base. Sophomore SS Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) walked and then Cox moved to third on a passed ball. The Ladies then pulled off a double steal as Cox came down the line toward home as Stokes broke toward second and was tagged out for the second out but Cox raced home easily for the early 1-0 lead. Hughes retired the next two batters but the Ladies went to the bottom of the inning up by a run after some good baserunning.

Jaelyn Simmons' two-run home run with one out in the bottom of the first gave the Celts a 2-1 lead and then 1B Gabby Davila's bases-loaded walk, a run scoring on a wild pitch, and an error allowed the final two runs of the game to score.

Cox finished 1-3 with a run scored, a walk, and three stolen bases to increase her season total to 41 in 44 attempts. Stokes finished 1-3 with a walk, senior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) was 1-2 with a walk, junior DP Viviana Rivero (Redondo Beach, Calif.) went 1-3, and sophomore 2B Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.) was 1-3.

Simmons and C Chloe Bennett each had two hits to lead the Celts and LF Rebecca Archibald finished 1-2 with two runs scored and two walks. Archibald also had one of three UST stolen bases.

Game one recap: St. Thomas 12 Centenary 10

The Celts won a slugfest in game two of the DH to complete the sweep of Saturday's action. Each team finished with 14 hits but the Ladies could not overcome 10 runners left on base and three errors. Centenary struck out five times and drew six walks while the Celts left nine on base, did not commit an error, walked five times and only struck out twice.

The Ladies tied their season-high with 14 hits as they have previously had 14 twice this season and tallied 10+ hits in a game for the 16^th time. Centenary scored 10+ runs for the fourth time this season, doing so for the first time in conference play and for the first time since March 2 against Arlington Baptist University on March 2, a 10-2 win.

The Ladies, just as they did in game one, scored first as they pushed across a pair of runs in their first at-bat. St. Thomas, though, immediately responded with three in the bottom half to take a 3-2 lead. Centenary fought back again and scored two more in the top of the second to regain the lead at 4-3.

The Celts again responded as they erupted for five runs in the bottom of the second to take an 8-4 lead. St. Thomas then added two more in the third to extend its lead to 10-4.

The Ladies, though, showed their resolve and fought back as they scored four times in the top of the fourth to cut their deficit to 10-8. The Celts tacked on a run in the bottom half to make it 11-8 but the Ladies again battled back and scored a pair in the fifth to make it an 11-10 game. St. Thomas added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 12-10 and held on for the win.

Sophomore P Riley Myers (Shreveport, La.) started in the circle for the Ladies and lasted just an inning as she allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits with a walk and a strikeout. She faced nine batters and threw 31 pitches – 16 for strikes. Crow (0-3) relieved Myers and worked three innings but suffered the loss as she allowed eight runs, five earned, and six hits with two BB and no K's. She faced 20 batters, hit one, and threw 69 pitches – 40 for strikes. Shepherd pitched the final two innings and yielded just one earned run and three hits with two BB and one K as she faced 10 batters and threw 50 pitches – 30 for strikes.

Lauren Trott started for the Celts and lasted three innings as she was tagged for eight runs, all earned, on 10 hits with three BB and a K. She faced 21 batters, hitting a pair, and threw 89 pitches – 49 for strikes. Hughes (11-2) came in for Trott and picked up the win, her second of the day, as she pitched the final four innings. She allowed two runs, both earned, on four hits with three BB and four K's. She faced 20 batters and threw 59 pitches – 31 for strikes.

Six Ladies, including the top four in the order, had multi-hit games. Senior 1B Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) tied her career single-game high with four RBI as she finished 2-5 with a pair of two-run doubles. Cox was 2-4 with three runs scored, a walk, and two more stolen bases to finish the DH with five swipes and 43 for the season.

Stokes went 3-4 with two RBI and three runs scored, sophomore  River Boultinghouse (Saint Gabriel, La.) had a big game as she was 2-4 2ith two RBI, three runs scored, and a walk, and sophomore C Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) went 2-3 with a run scored and a stolen base. Sophomore Abigail Hodgson (Georgetown, Texas) was 2-4 with an RBI, Stout walked twice, freshman Janae Bland (Livingston, Texas) walked in her only plate appearance, sophomore 2B Brooke Sandefur (Denham Springs, La.) walked once, and sophomore Morgan Dawson (Natchitoches, La.) was 1-4 with an RBI single.

Five Celts recorded multi-hit games and two – Archibald and SS Lindsey Gonzalez, each had three hits. Archibald finished 3-4 with two RBI, three runs scored, three stolen bases and a walk, 2B Haley Lupian went 2-4 with two runs scored, and Bennett finished off an impressive day by going 2-3 with three RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base. Simmons was 1-4 with three runs scored, two stolen bases, an RBI, and a walk. 1B Gabby Davila was 2-3 with an RBI and a walk and CF Delayne Moreno finished 1-4.

Boultinghouse drove in Cox with an RBI single in the first for a 1-0 lead as Dawson drove in Boultinghouse with another run-scoring single to put the Ladies up 2-0. A Simmons RBI single, a passed ball that allowed a run to score, and an RBI single by Gonzalez make it 3-2 Celts. Stokes' RBI double and an RBI single by Hodgson made it 4-3 Ladies, but seven-straight runs allowed the Celts to take a 10-4 lead.

Stokes, Boultinghouse, and Dominguez all had RBI hits in the fourth to cut the Centenary deficit to 10-8. Thrasher started off the inning with a pinch-hit single and three hits followed. Hughes replaced Trott after she allowed back-to back RBI hits by Stokes and Boultinghouse that made it 10-6. She got Hodgson to pop up to first for out number one but Dominguez followed with a two-run double to make it 10-8.

Stout, after getting down 0-2, had a great at-bat as she patiently worked a full- count walk to put the tying runs on base. Hughes, though, retired Dawson on a pop up and struck out freshman Noelle Sandmann (Huntsville, Texas) to maintain the slim lead. Archibald then had an RBI single with two outs in the fourth to make it 11-8 Celts.

The Ladies had a chance again to tie the game in the fifth after a two-run double with two outs by Dominguez brought them within a run at 11-10 but Stout grounded out to short to end the inning. Centenary continued to fight back as the Ladies had two runners on with just one out in the sixth but Cox struck out and Stokes lined out to end the frame. Archibald delivered another RBI single in the bottom of the sixth for some insurance as the Celts took a 12-10 lead. Shepherd, though, struck out PH Celeste Luna for the second out and retired Simmons on a fly out to strand the bases loaded. Hughes then retired the Ladies in order in the top of the seventh to seal the win.

St. Thomas, 8-3 at home this season, extended its winning streak to eight and has now won eight of nine all-time meetings in the series which dates back to 2021.

The Ladies are currently in fifth place in the conference standings and just one game behind Southwestern University (9-8) and are six games behind the Celts who occupy second place. TLU (15-1) and Trinity (13-3) are currently first and third respectively in the standings.

The top six teams in the standings at the conclusion of the regular season will qualify for the 2024 SCAC Softball Tournament, a double-elimination event, that will be held May 3-5 in Seguin and hosted by TLU.

Centenary will finish the regular season at home next weekend against Trinity.

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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