UTSA Softball faced off against the University of Memphis Tigers in a three-game American Athletic Conference series this past weekend. The Roadrunners won two of the three, dropping the final game of the weekend. The ‘Runners collected 16 runs overall, leading them to their first series win in over a year.
“Anytime you can get a series victory is huge,” coach Vann Stuedeman said. “Especially in our league. It is a very, very skilled softball league. Everybody in our league is really good and talented and to take a series from anybody is huge and feels great.”
“We’re finally flipping the page,” freshman right fielder Taryn Madlock added. “We are totally forgetting about last year. This is a new team with a new coaching staff, so we’re excited to start the new chapter of this new year and see what’s to come.”
In the first game, senior catcher Taylor Jensen broke open the scoring in the fifth inning with an RBI double to knock in three runs.
“My approach was to get it on the ground in a hole somewhere so that we could score one or two runs because it was getting late in the game,” Jensen said about her critical at-bat. “Just trying to break up the 0-0 score.”
UTSA scored two more in the sixth on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Madlock. Senior pitcher Jamie Gilbert pitched a complete game and finished with seven innings pitched, five hits allowed, two strikeouts and zero earned runs. The Roadrunners defeated the Tigers 5-0.
The second game saw UTSA collect 12 hits. Madlock had two plate appearances where she had two hits including an RBI, finishing the game with a perfect batting average. One of those hits was her first bird bomb of the season and the first of her career as a Roadrunner.
“It was very good to finally figure things out and I’m excited for the rest of the season,” Madlock said.
Junior second base Jaylen Prichard collected two hits and three RBI, while Jensen had three hits and two RBI. Sophomore starting pitcher Reagan Smith threw a complete game, only allowing four hits, one earned run and administered zero walks as UTSA routed Memphis 11-1.
“That was [Smith’s] best outing that she’s had, in my opinion, in her career,” Stuedeman said. “She set the tone early through strikes. We’ve been really working on not walking people and hitting people… she got out there, was confident, was hitting spots and I feel like she set the table for us to have a good game.”
In the final game of the series, the Tigers held UTSA to only four hits and two runs. The Roadrunners scored their first run in the fifth off a homerun from sophomore center fielder Madi Hays, who kept up the competitiveness to the end.
“A lot of it stems from the way that I grew up,” Hays said. “I grew up with two big brothers and it was always competitive in my household. Our culture [at UTSA] is a lot better than it has been, so it’s not a difficult task to do when you’ve got 27 other girls right behind you doing the exact same thing and that is having your back completely 110% of the time.”
Gilbert started the game in the circle and went three innings giving up five hits and five earned runs, making her season ERA 4.42. Smith was called on relief to throw the rest of the game, giving up four hits and zero earned runs, lowering her season ERA to 6.44. The Roadrunners were bested by the Tigers 8-2.
UTSA will face off against Lamar at 4 p.m. Tuesday at LU Softball Complex in Beaumont.
