ARLINGTON, Texas - The Cleveland State softball team dropped a pair of games at Texas-Arlington on Thursday evening, falling 4-3 in eight innings in the opener and dropping a 9-7 contest in the nightcap.
The Mavericks improved to 21-2 this year with a pair of walk-off wins, while CSU fell to 5-15.
Game one was scoreless until the sixth inning when the Vikings plated two runs on an RBI single from Alyson Broschk and an RBI double by Mel Woodard. However, the Mavericks answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning and neither team was able to score in the seventh, sending the game into extra innings.
Using the internation tiebreaker rule, Bailee Gray was placed on second base to start the inning and moved to third on a one out single from Broschk. Woodard followed with an RBI single to right field to put the Vikings ahead, 3-2.
Like CSU, the Mavericks placed a runner on second base to start the eighth inning, but after the first two batters were retired, UTA used an RBI single from Mallory Foster and the game-winning RBI double by Shelbi Sikes.
Broschk, Woodard and Susan Knight all had two hits in the opener, while Woodard drove in two runs.
Knight worked all 7 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits with one strikeout.
The Vikings pounded out 12 hits in the nightcap, including two each from Katelind Phillips, Knight, Erica McNew, Woodard and Alisha Silva.
The Mavericks jumped out to a 4-0 lead early with four runs in the second inning. A Knight RBI single in the third brought the Vikings within 4-1, but Britnea Barilli's two-run homer in the bottom of the third extended the Maverick lead to 6-1.
Woodard's RBI double in the fourth cut the CSU deficit to 6-2, but the Mavericks once again responded with a one to regain a five-run lead (7-2) after four innings.
CSU would cut the lead to 7-6 with four runs in the fifth as Knight and Woodard delivered RBI singles and McNew added a two-run single and Knight's RBI single in the sixth allowed the Vikings to tie the game at 7-7.
However, Sikes once again came through for the Mavericks, delivering a one out, two-run walk-off homer to give UT-Arlington the doubleheader sweep.
The Vikings are back in action on Saturday (March 19) when CSU plays a single game at Memphis. First pitch is slated for 2:00 pm ET.
