HOUSTON – HCU allowed five runs in the top of the second and that proved to be the difference as the Huskies' softball team fell 9-4 to Sam Houston on Sunday at Cougar Softball Stadium.
HCU (8-7) got a leadoff single from
Avery Drake in the bottom of the first with the sophomore eventually getting stranded on third. The Bearkats (6-10) then loaded the bases to start the second with a walk, a single and a walk. A fielder's choice with a throwing error scored a run and kept the bases loaded with nobody out. Emily Telg singled to right, pushing home another run and chasing HCU starter
Addy Prasifka from the game. Sam Houston pushed across three more runs with all five of the runs in the inning attributed to Prasifka.
In the bottom half of the second, HCU put runners on first and second with nobody out, thanks in part to a throwing error on a fielder's choice on a ground ball off the bat of
Autumn Sydlik. Another fielder's choice resulted in
Jasie Roberts being forced out at third and again leaving the Huskies with runners on first and second with one out.
Jackie Jessup singled to right to score Sydlik from second and put two in scoring position on the throw home.
Hadlee Tomczak was hit by a pitch to load the bases but back-to-back pop-ups to short ended the inning with HCU trailing 5-1.
Brodie Quinlan drove a two-out home run over the fence to left in the top of the fourth to extend the Sam Houston lead to 8-1. Jessup responded in the bottom half of the inning with a solo blast to center to cut the HCU deficit to six, 8-2.
The teams continued to trade blows in the fifth with a Kelsey Bunch solo home run adding to the Bearkats' total in the top half followed by a two-run bomb in the bottom half off the bat of
Haylie Savage, scoring
AB Garcia and bringing the game to its final score of 9-4.
Jessup finished the game 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a run scored. Her home run was her first of the season. Savage, meanwhile, brought her season home run total to three and now has 11 RBI for the year. Prasifka allowed five runs, three earned, in one inning in the circle to suffer the loss and fall to 0-2 on the season. Swanson allowed four earned runs in 3.1 innings and
Ronni Grofman pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in relief.
HCU travels to Ruston, La. next weekend for four games, facing host Louisiana Tech twice and UMass Lowell twice on Saturday and Sunday, Mar. 4-5.
