HOUSTON —- A long night at Husky Field ended happily, as HCU walked-off Texas A&M-Commerce in the ninth inning of game two to complete a Tuesday twin-bill sweep of the Lions.
The Huskies slugged the Lions 17-3 in game one, and a pitcher's duel ensued in the nightcap. HCU has now won three in a row.
GAME 1
HCU got all the runs they needed in the first frame of the opener. Back-to-back RBI doubles by
Haylie Savage and
Jasie Roberts put the first runs not the board, and one out later,
Kaicey Hagler drilled a two-run jack to left field, giving the Huskies a 4-0 lead.
The Huskies added on in the second. Roberts provided a sacrifice fly, and
Autumn Sydlik and Hagler contributed RBI singles to push the lead to 7-0.
The game was broken wide open in the third inning, as HCU doubled its advantage.
Hadlee Tomczak got things going with an opposite field missile for her first career homer, a two-run shot that pushed the lead to nine.
Moments later, Roberts added an RBI single and Savage would then score on a wild pitch. Roni Grofman then doubled to right field to score Roberts and Hagler and the Huskies led by two touchdowns.
After Commerce pushed a couple across in the fourth, Savage got the runs right back with a two-run homer to center field, her seventh of the season. Grofman added another RBI double to close the scoring for HCU in the run-rule victory.
Katy Janes picked up the win, going five innings and allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out four. She moves to 6-8 overall on the season.
AB Garcia had her second straight four-hit game and scored three times. Savage, Hagler and Grofman each finished 2-3 with three RBI, while Roberts was 2-2 with three RIB and two runs. Childs was 2-4 with an RBI and Tomczak went 1-3 with her first career homer and two RBI to finish off the 16-hit attack.
Kaydee Bennett was 2-2 with a run in the losing effort for the Lions, and Anissa Arredondo suffered the loss, not making it out of the first inning and giving up four runs.
GAME 2
The Huskies took game two in dramatic fashion, as
Kaicey Hagler scored from second base with the game-winning tally in the night to help the Huskies claim a 2-1 victory.
Hagler singled to get the bottom of the ninth inning started, and was sacrificed to second by
Maggie Childs. Roni Grofman then lined a single to center field, which advanced Hagler to third. The throw home from center was errant, going all the way to the backstop, allowing Hagler to cross the dish and end the marathon victory.
Locked up with Commerce's Julia Sanchez in a classic pitcher's duel,
Lyndie Swanson scattered 11 hits while walking none and striking out six. Sanchez was equally brilliant, limiting HCU to just five hits and two runs while fanning 12.
Having fanned eight through four and a third innings, Sanchez had Childs down in the count 0-2. Childs rallied to hammer a shot down the line in left for her second homer of the season, giving HCU a 1-0 lead.
TAMUC would rally in the seventh, finally breaking through on a one-out run-scoring single by Kaydee Bennett. Swanson, who stranded the bases loaded in the fifth, got out of this two-on jam as well, getting a pop-up and groundout to end the threat.
Swanson would hold Commerce at bay for two more innings, before the late-game winner, pushing her record to 8-5 on the season. Sanchez falls to 3-11 overall after tossing a five-hitter on 163 pitchers.
Childs went 1-3 on the night with her second homer in the last three games, Hagler scored the game winner and was 1-4 at the plate.
Diamond See, Ayanna Williams and America Rubio each had two hits for the Lions.
NEXT UP:
Houston Christian (17-20 / 6-5 SLC) and Texas A&M-Commerce (5-32 / 1-13 SLC) wrap up the three-game series at noon on Wednesday at Husky Field.
