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HOUSTON, Texas – After Texas Southern tied the game with three runs in the sixth, a
Demi Janak double brought
Cecilia Bauer across the plate to give HBU a 4-3 win over the Lady Tigers on Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Park.
HBU (8-16) and TSU (12-10) were scoreless through three innings with just two base hits. In the Husky fourth,
Kassie James singled up the middle with two outs before advancing to second on a
Libby Brown single. With two on and two out, freshman
Megan Hiers singled to right and a fielding error by the TSU right fielder allowed both James and Brown to score and give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
Shae Bibby, the HBU starting pitcher, held the Lady Tigers hitless until the fifth inning when Marissa Padron led off the bottom half of the inning with a single. Despite their first hit, the Lady Tigers remained scoreless after five.
With TSU making a pitching change in the top of the sixth, HBU welcomed Tyra Williams with a double off the bat of
Nicole Shedd and an RBI single by James for a 3-0 HBU advantage.
The Lady Tigers finally got on the board in the sixth with a leadoff single by Marisa Maldonado followed by a bunt single by Kelsey Riley. After a Riley steal of second and with two runners in scoring position, Dominique Tello doubled to left center to score two.
Stephanie Buenrostro came on in relief of Bibby at that point, allowing a sacrifice bunt to move Maldonado over to third with one out. Maldonado then scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3 but Buenrostro put an end to the Lady Tigers threat.
In the seventh, Bauer drove a one-out triple to left center to put herself in scoring position and set the stage for the next batter, Janak. With a full count, the sophomore doubled to right to bring Bauer home and put HBU back ahead, 4-3.
Buenrostro retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to earn the win.
James finished 3-for-4 with three singles, raising her season average to .311, with a run scored and one run batted in. Janak and Shedd were both 1-for-4 with a double, the fourth of the year for Janak and sixth for Shedd. The Huskies finished with 10 hits to TSU's five.
Buenrostro moves to 4-3 on the season, picking up the win with two innings of relief work, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out one. Bibby started in the circle, allowing three earned runs on four hits over five innings. The freshman struck out two and walked one.
HBU will host its second-consecutive home Southland Conference series at Husky Field this Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1, with a doubleheader on Friday starting at 1:00 p.m. and the series finale on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
