Softball Falls Short, 8-6, To Celts On Sunday

Houston- The Centenary softball team fell to the University of St. Thomas Celts by a score of 8-6 on Sunday afternoon in the third and final game of a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series as the Celts completed the weekend sweep at the West University Softball Association Complex.

The Ladies (13-22, 8-10 SCAC) dropped a doubleheader on Saturday by scores of 6-1 in game one and 12-10 in game two and have lost seven games in a row. The Celts (22-9, 15-3 SCAC) extended their winning streak to nine.

Centenary finished with nine hits, walked once, struck out four times, committed three errors and left eight on base. St. Thomas also had nine hits and made three errors and drew seven walked while striking out three times and leaving 10 on base.

The Celts struck for three runs in the first inning and added two more in the second to lead 5-0. The Ladies scored one in the top of the third but the Celts scored two more in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to 7-1 and scored one more in the bottom of the fourth to lead comfortably at 8-1. The Ladies, though, refused to back down as they scored five runs in the top of the fifth to cut their deficit to 8-6 but neither team scored over the last two innings.

Sophomore P Alexis Roach (Pineville, La.) started in the circle for the Ladies and was charged with the loss as she lasted just 2.1 innings and allowed seven runs, all earned, on five hits with five walks and one strikeout to fall to 1-6. She faced 19 batters and threw 60 pitches – 26 for strikes. She hit one batter and threw one wild pitch. Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) relieved Roach and went the final 3.2 innings and allowed just one earned run and four hits with two BB and two K's. She faced 17 batters, threw one wild pitch, and finished with 56 pitches (34 strikes).

Allison Hughes (11-2) went he distance for St. Thomas and allowed six runs, four earned, and nine hits with a BB and four K's and allowed one home run. She faced 35 batters, hit one, and threw 125 pitches (84 strikes).

The Ladies scored their first run as they pulled off a double steal as sophomore SS River Boultinghouse (Saint Gabriel, La.) stole second and senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) stole home. In the fifth, freshman LF Janae Bland (Livingston, Texas) popped out but Cox reached on an error and promptly stole second. Sophomore 2B Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) then reached on an error as Cox advanced to third. Boultinghouse then singled to score Cox and sophomore DP Abigail Hodgson (Georgetown, Texas) singled to score Stokes.

Senior 1B Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) then belted a three-run home run to left-center to make it 8-6. Senior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) flew out for the second out of the inning and sophomore C Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) doubled to bring the tying run to the plate. Hughes, though, struck out sophomore 3B Morgan Dawson (Natchitoches, La.) to end the inning.

The Ladies threatened in the seventh inning as Hodgson was hit by a pitch with two strikes to lead off the inning. Freshman Alexis Sanchez (Houston, Texas) pinch ran for Hodgson as Dominguez stepped to the plate. She lofted a soft fly ball to right field that dropped in between the 2B Celeste Luna and RF Mallarie Munson, but Sanchez froze close to first base and was thrown out at second as Dominguez reached first base.

Stout then reached on an error by Luna that put runners at first and second with just one out. Thrasher then hit a hard grounder back to Hughes who threw to third for the force out as Stout advanced to second. Sophomore Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.) pinch hit for Dawson and Popped up to first to end the game.

Cox finished 3-4 with two runs scored and three stolen bases, Boultinghouse was 2-4 with an RBI, a stolen base, and a run, Thrasher finished 2-4 with a pair of doubles, and Dominguez was 1-4 with three RBI and a run scored while Hodgson was 1-2 with an RBI and a walk.

SS Lindsey Gonzalez and LF Rebecca Archibald each had two hits to lead the Celts' offense as they combined to go 4-6 with two RBI, four runs scored, a stolen base, and two walks. Munson was 1-4 with three RBI and 1B Gabby Davila was 0-1 with an RBI, two runs scored, and two walks. CF Delayne Moreno went 1-2 with a run scored, two walks, and two stolen bases and C Chloe Bennett went 1-3 with a run.

Centenary will finish the regular season at home next weekend against Trinity (26-11, 14-4 SCAC). The series will feature a doubleheader on Saturday at Noon and 2 p.m. and then a single game on Sunday at Noon. The Ladies' senior class will be honored after the game on Sunday.

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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