Texas Tech softball dropped its final two games of the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic Saturday, falling to East Carolina, 8-7, and Saint Francis, 3-1.
The losses move the Red Raiders to 13-14 overall following an 0-3 showing at its annual event. Saint Francis improves to 24-8 with three wins so far this weekend, while East Carolina is now 15-12 with a win and a loss. The Red Flash and Pirates conclude the event Sunday with a 9:30 a.m. first pitch.
“We have to keep working ahead of hitters and not letting their best hitters beat us,” head coach Adrian Gregory said. “That’s what happened all weekend. We let the best hitters produce. You can’t do that. You have to make sure that you regulate that, and that you regulate the runners that are on before them. We didn’t do that very well.”
The Red Raiders outhit their opponents in all three games this weekend, including a 10-9 advantage over East Carolina and a 6-5 margin over Saint Francis Saturday. Tech outhit the Red Flash 14-10 Friday.
Senior Susan Welborn led the Red Raiders at the plate, going 3-6 on the day with two home runs, a double, three runs, three RBI and a base on balls.
“She is a fighter,” Gregory said of Welborn. “That kid fights, and fights, and fights. She is so gritty. She caught all game behind the plate for us and was trying to pick people off. She fights so hard. You can watch that in her last at-bat. She was fighting, and fighting, and fighting. She’s leading that way, and we have to have more of that. That fight and that grit. We need to continue to compete all the way through.”
In game one on the day, Tech fell into an early 1-0 hole before Welborn crushed her fourth home run of the season to even the score at 1-1 in the second. The next inning Tech moved in front 4-2 thanks to a Kierra Miles double that brought in two runs and a sacrifice fly by senior Brittany Warnecke
Senior Mattison Maisel carried the lead into the fifth before the Pirates plated five runs to take the lead for good.
The Red Raiders would battle back in the seventh, entering the frame down 8-4. Welborn ripped an RBI double to left field before freshman Kassidy Scott connected on a two-RBi single to left center. With the winning run at the plate, sophomore Kiana Workman grounded out to third base to end the contest.
In the nightcap, Saint Francis jumped out in front early after a home run by junior Jordan Seneca, the nationa’s leader in home runs, made it 3-0 in the second.
Scott came on in relief in the second and shut down the Red Flash the rest of the way, tossing 6.0 innings and giving up just three hits and three walks with a strikeout.
The Red Raiders would get on the board, again fighting tough in the seventh inning, when Welborn blasted a leadoff home run over the wall in center. That was all Tech could muster however, as SFU’s Ketarah DeVries came in to get the save.
Tech opens Big 12 play next week as it travels to Iowa State for a three-game series March 24-26. The Red Raiders and Cyclones will square off at 4:00 p.m. Friday and at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
Gregory on the weekend…
”We hit better (Friday). A multitude of things happened today. When we’re in our own mind and locked in, we’re really good. We need to stayed disciplined and hit our pitches. In the late innings, we were able to do that. We were a little more disciplined at the plate. It’s making sure that we remember who we are, and remember that we can hit. Kassidy (Scott) threw a really good game that last game, and we’ll keep building off of that. We need her to throw well, and we need to hit.”
POST-GAME NOTES
- Texas Tech has lost four in a row for the first time this season.
- The Red Raiders move to 0-2 all-time versus Saint Francis with a pair of losses this weekend.
- Tech moves to 0-1 all-time against East Carolina following Saturday’s game.
- Texas Tech falls to 28-7 all-time in the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic.
- In eight games played at home, senior catcher Susan Welborn has five home runs.
- Welborn went 5-10 on the weekend with two home runs, a double, four RBI, five runs scored and two walks. She has scored in nine of the 12 games she has played this season.
- Sophomore Kiani Ramsey went 2-3 Saturday against Saint Francis for her seventh multi-hit game of the season.
- Senior Kierra Miles finished with two RBI on the weekend and is now just nine away from breaking the school record for RBI in a career.
- Miles, who recorded at least one hit in each game this weekend, has hit safely in 20 of 27 games this season.
- Tech’s four errors against St. Francis Saturday mark the fifth game this season of at least four errors.