This past weekend marked the beginning of the UTSA Softball season as they hosted the UTSA Softball Classic. The Roadrunners come off of a 21-32 record from last season and hoped to start the season with a bang.
The Roadrunners won their first game of the season when they took down Southern Illinois Salukis on Friday night by a score of 6-4. Junior outfielder Bailee Baldwin paved the way for the UTSA offense as she gave the ‘Runners the early lead with two home runs in the first two innings. Senior pitcher Lizzy Fox started the game for the Roadrunners and only gave up four runs while posting two strikeouts. Freshman pitcher Madison Nelson pitched one third of an inning for her first career save to close out the game. Sophomore outfielder Celeste Loughman also had a solid game herself as she went 2 for 4 on the day along with one run and one RBI. Freshman shortstop Ashlynn Walls batted 2 for 3 on the day. UTSA and Southern Illinois both managed to get eight hits.
UTSA then had a double header on Saturday when they took on Abilene Christian and Seton Hall on day two of the tournament. The ‘Runners would first take on the Abilene Christian Wildcats in the first game. Loughman had another solid performance by hitting 2 for 4 and scoring a run. Nelson had a strong outing by only allowing two runs on seven hits through the whole seven innings of the game. Freshman outfielder Hannah Boring went 2 for 3 in the game and also tacked on two runs batted in (RBIs) and one run to go along with her performance. Walls had another 2 for 3 day and also managed to have one RBI. The Roadrunners would end up winning the game against Abilene Christian by a score of 4-2 and putting up nine hits against the Wildcats to bring their tournament record to 2-0.
In the second game of their double header, the Roadrunners took on the 2-1 Seton Hall Pirates. Loughman once again shined in the ‘Runners third game of the season as she went 2 for 3 with one RBI. Sophomore third baseman Rylee Rodriguez had a good day hitting as she went 2 for 3 against the Pirates. Fox was in the circle for the Roadrunners and pitched all seven innings while allowing eight hits but only three runs. Fox also posted two strikeouts. The game remained scoreless for the first three innings until Seton Hall managed to put up three runs after an explosive start to the fourth inning. The ‘Runners managed to put up one run in the final inning of the game but it wasn’t enough, and UTSA suffered its first loss on the young season by a score of 3-1. The loss dropped the Roadrunner’s to 2-1 in tournament play.
The Roadrunners were slated to have one final game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi but due to the frigid temperatures and nasty weather, the remainder of the tournament was canceled with no plans for makeup games to be scheduled.
The ‘Runners will be back in tournament action very soon as this upcoming weekend marks the beginning of the UTSA Softball Tournament. The softball team will begin tournament play against Lamar University at 4:30 p.m. and the University of Kansas at 7 p.m. on Friday followed by two Saturday games against Prairie View A&M and Missouri State. The ‘Runners will then close out the tournament with a final game against Prairie View A&M on Sunday. After a solid outing to kick off the season, the UTSA softball team is poised to ride the momentum off their strong start into the next tournament.
