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22 - Hanna York (Nicholls)
Arief Harlan

SB: Huskies head across town to take on Cougars Tuesday night

HCU hosts East Texas A&M on the weekend to close out regular season slate



HCU (15-29 / 6-15 SLC) at University of Houston (20-19 / 3-13 Big 12)
  • Tuesday – April 22, 2025 (6 pm)
  • Cougar Softball Stadium - Houston, Texas
  • 📈 LIVE STATS
  • 📺 ESPN+  
  • 🗒️ GAME NOTES    
 
Houston Christian University travels across town for the final road game of the regular season schedule, facing the University of Houston at Cougar Softball Stadium on Tuesday night. First pitch is slated for 6 pm.
 
The Huskies are coming off a solid weekend series at Lamar University in Beaumont in which they took two of three from the Cardinals. HCU claimed its first conference series win since the opening three-game set against Northwestern State with late rallies in each of the last two games of the series.
 
After falling in the first game of Thursday's twin-bill 7-1 the Huskies captured two straight in dramatic fashion to claim back-to-back victories for the first time since aforementioned series with NSU. HCU scored six times in its final two at-bats to win Friday's nightcap 11-10, then stormed back from a 4-0 deficit in the series finale with nine unanswered runs, including a monstrous five-run ninth inning.
 
Karlie Barba had a two-run double in the sixth and Hanna York hit the go-ahead RBI double in the seventh for the big blows in Friday's comeback which saw the Huskies set season-bests with four doubles, 14 hits and 11 runs. On Saturday Haylie Savage put HCU on top in the ninth with a two-run jack, her fourth of the season, and York ran into her first career dinger, a two-run smash later in the frame as HCU again pounded out 14 hits.
 
Cara Pitman earned the decision in each of the three games of the series, starting and losing the opener, winning in relief in game two, then coming back to throw all nine for the victory in the Saturday finale.
 
Haylie Savage, the only three-time All-Southland Conference selection in program history, enters the final week of the regular season batting .375 and has reached base in 17 straight games. She has 11 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games, and currently ranks 7th in the SLC in RBI and OPS, 8th in doubles and slugging, 9th in on-base and 10th in batting average. Her 3-hit game in the series finale at Lamar was the 4th of this season and 11th of her career.
 
She has put her name on nearly every major offensive category in school history. The senior third baseman from Angleton, Texas is one of just 10 players ever at HCU to hit the century mark in runs driven in (now at 121) and her homer at UTA made her one of just nine players in school history with 20 career home runs (now at 22).
 
She is now just five hits shy of 200 for her career with 195, good for 7th all-time. She is one of just six players in school history with 40 or more doubles, ranking second with 44. She is two at-bats away from fourth all-time while ranking seventh in walks and 11th in both games played and runs scored.
 
Ella Herrewig is third on the club in batting at .324 and is third in runs scored and second in stolen bases. Maddy Bailey is batting .282 and is third on the club with 17 RBI, just behind Hanna York who now has 20 on the season which is  the most for a freshman since Katy Schaefer drove in 18 in 2018.
 
Two rookie hurlers continue to lead pitching staff, as Cara Pitman and Leah Hammack have combined for 13 of the team's 15 victories. The eight victories by Pitman are the most for a frosh hurler since Emma Guindon had nine in 2019.  Pitman leads the club in wins, innings, appearances, games started, complete games, strikeouts, saves and shutouts.
 
HCU steps out of conference play for the first time since March 25 and for the final time in the regular season in their mid-week matchup with Houston. The Cougars hold a 9-2 advantage in the series, including a 12-10 victory in last season's matchup at UH in which they rallied from down 7-5 in the fifth.
 
Kristin Vesely is in her 15th year on Main Street, including the last nine as head coach. The Cougars have been idle since dropping a three-game series at #14 Texas Tech on April 11-13 which dropped them to 20-19 overall and 3-13 in the Big 12.
 
Sophomore outfielder Jordee Wilkins leads the Cougars with a .358 batting average. Freshman infielder Brooke Wells bats .353, is tied for the team lead in homers with eight and has a club-best with 40 RBI. Makenna Mitchell, a sophomore infielder, bats .291 with eight homers and 33 RBI.
 
UH has five pitchers with three wins or more, but just two with more than 40 innings pitched. Sophomore righty Gigi Solis is 3-3 with a 4.79 ERA and leads the team with 64.1 innings, while rookie righthander Rylee Michalak is 4-4 and paces the squad with 19 appearances and 11 starts.
 
The trip across town precedes this weekend's final home series of the regular season. The Huskies will host East Texas A&M University on April 25 and 26 at Husky Field, with the Saturday finale being "Senior Day" honoring its three departing student-athletes. HCU will then await final seeding for the Southland Conference Tournament, which begins May 1 with two separate four-team brackets at the two highest-seeded teams. The winners of those pods play a three-game series at the higher seed.
 
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