UE wraps up tournament on Sunday
Day two of the Jaguar Challenge saw the University of Evansville softball team drop a pair of contests, opening the day with a 4-3 loss to Louisiana Tech before a late South Alabama rally led them to a 7-6 win in the evening match-up.
GAME ONE
A 3-run fifth inning by Louisiana Tech was the difference in game one with the Lady Techsters defeating the Aces by a 4-3 final. In the second inning, Louisiana Tech scored the opening run before UE tied it up in the third. Jenna Lis drew a leadoff walk and was pinch run for by Mackenzie McFeron. The sophomore stole second and would cross the plate on a double by Jessica Fehr.
The game remained knotted at 1-1 until the fifth when the Techsters plated three runs with Lin Edwards highlighting the frame with a home run. Trailing by a 4-1 margin, the Aces fought back with a run in the sixth. Alyssa Barela walked with one out and Mea Adams came in to run. Next up was Haley Woolf, who doubled to left to bring Adams in for the second run of the day.
Evansville made one more comeback attempt in the seventh putting runners on second and third to lead off the inning. With one out, Halie Fain attempted to score on a fielder’s choice, but was thrown out at the plate. Barela followed up with a single that scored Kat Mueller before a strikeout ended the game with Louisiana Tech taking the win. Evansville finished with five hits, led by two from Barela. Izzy Vetter made the start. She gave up just two hits, but walked four batters. Of the four runs she allowed, three were earned. Erin Kleffman pitched a scoreless sixth inning.
GAME TWO
South Alabama struck first with a pair of runs in the second inning. The Aces pushed back, scoring six of the next eight runs. Hannah Hood got UE on the board in the top half of the third with an RBI single. Her hit scored Jessica Fehr, who reached on an error earlier in the inning.
Two more runs crossed the plate for UE in the fourth. Lindsay Renneisen and Eryn Gould reached base to lead off the frame before advancing on a sacrifice bunt from Jenna Lis. The big hit came off the bat of Alyssa Barela, whose double to center put two more runs on the board and gave UE its first lead at 3-2.
The lead went right back in the hands of the Jaguars with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, but UE rallied in the sixth. It was Fehr coming through with a 2-RBI double that scored Toni Galas and Eryn Gould. Galas pinch ran for Lis, who singled in the inning while Gould reached via a walk. Up by one, the Aces added an insurance run when Barela registered her third RBI of the game to score Fehr.
Down to their final three outs, the Jaguars rallied in the seventh, scoring two runs with one out to tie the game. UE starter Emily Lockhart got the second out, but with a runner on third, South Alabama infielder Allie Hughen doubled to left to send USA to a 7-6 walk-off win. The Jaguars out-hit UE by an 11-6 margin. Fehr had two of the Aces hits and registered two RBI and scored twice. Barela had three RBI in the game while Gould scored two runs. Lockhart took the loss, allowing seven runs on 11 hits. She fanned five batters.
Sunday’s finale pits the Aces against USA once again at 12:15 p.m.
