Texas Tech softball (6-10) defeated Illinois State (3-11) 5-3 before falling to No. 5  LSU (13-2) to close out the 2016 Purple and Gold Challenge at Tiger Park on Sunday.
“How could you not be happy with our result this weekend,” said head softball coach Adrian Gregory. “I was proud of the way Cheyene Powell and Mattison Maisel came out in the second game. We knew that LSU would have a game plan for them and they both came out and competed and gave us a chance. We had the ball hit where we wanted it a number of times where we just didn’t make a play here or there, but I thought our pursuit was spot-on.”
The Red Raiders began the first half of the doubleheader with a three up, three down first inning against Illinois State.
The Red Birds would break the scoreless tie in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead into the home half of the frame.
The Red Raiders would respond with a three hit inning that plated two runs. Texas Tech third baseman Ashley Fultz got the Red Raiders started with a one out single, but advanced to second on a throwing error by the Tiger second baseman. After being moved over to third with a ground out, Fultz came in to score on a Brittany Warnecke single to left field. Warnecke would be brought in by Susan Welborn who singled to right field, but was thrown out trying to take second to end the inning.
Illinois State would tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth as Regan Romshek would record a lead off single and eventually come in to score on an Allison Spence sacrifice fly to center field.
The Red Birds would take the lead in the top of the sixth as Romsheck came around to score her second run of the game on an Abby Turczyn single through the left side.
Trailing 3-2 heading to the home half of the sixth, Texas Tech would explode for three runs on three hits to close out the 5-3 Red Raider victory.
The win in game one improved Texas Techs’ overall record to 6-9 and marked the second win this weekend over Illinois State. Mattison Maisel, who entered the game in relief in the sixth inning, recorded her second win of the season with the victory and carries a 2-2 record out of the weekend.
In game two, the Red Raiders found themselves in an early 4-0 hole following the first inning of play. The fifth-ranked Tigers combined for four runs on three hits in the inning including a three run home run to left center by right fielder Bailey Landry.
Texas Tech would answer back with a three run third to pull within one of the Tigers. Following a leadoff strikeout, Jessica Hartwell would draw a six pitch walk to give Tech a one out base runner. Jordan Bettiol would follow her walk with a single to shortstop to bring Ramsey to the plate with two on and one away in the inning. Ramsey would hit a hard ground ball to second to advance both runners to scoring position for Miles. The first of the three runs would come across on a wild pitch that was followed by a hit by pitch and a single that cut the LSU lead to 3-4 heading to the bottom of the third.
After two and a half scoreless innings, the Tigers would extend their lead to 5-3 with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Red Raiders would be unable to cut into the lead in the seventh wrapping up the fifth-ranked Tigers 13th victory of the 2016 season.
With the loss, the Red Raiders fall to 0-6 all-time against the Tigers including a 0-4 mark in games decided by two runs or fewer.         
The Red Raiders will return to action on Friday for a pair of games at Rocky Johnson Field to begin the five game Texas Tech Invitational. Texas Tech will begin the doubleheader with a matchup with McNeese State at 5:30 p.m. followed by an 8 p.m. tilt with Ohio.