MONROE, La. - The ULM softball team got back on track
Saturday with two come-from-behind performances against Sun Belt Conference foe
North Texas and used identical 2-1 results to claim the doubleheader at the ULM
Softball Complex.
The Warhawks improved to 18-18 overall and 5-9 in Sun Belt
play to guarantee their second series win of the season.
ULM 2, North Texas 1
The Warhawks scored two runs off just one hit, which Alexis Cacioppo had in a
1-for-2 outing. Janel Salanoa and Mackenzie Miller provided a run each while
Salanoa, Miller and Miyuki Navarrete had a stolen base. Navarrete's was her Sun
Belt-leading 20th of the season.
Samantha Hamby (5-3) collected her fourth complete game of
the season and allowed one earned run on five hits and fanned four batters.
ULM capitalized on a throwing error in the fifth inning to
take its first lead of the game and score the eventual game-winning run, as Miller
stole second and moved over on a ground out. Navarrete laid down the sacrifice
bunt to pull off a successful squeeze play.
North Texas' Megan Rupp led off the game with a walk to put
the first run on the scoreboard. A groundout advanced her to second base before
a single by Caitlin Grimes sent her home.
Salanoa also walked to provide the game-tying run in the
fourth inning, and stole second before Cacioppo nailed a double off the left
field wall to knot the score 1-1.
Maddelyn Fraley led the Mean Green (18-21-1, 8-8-1 Sun Belt)
at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance and one RBI. Rupp went 1-for-3 along
with her one run while Grimes and Danielle Hoff also had a hit. Ashley Kirk (6-9)
earned the loss despite giving up just one earned run and one hit with seven
strikeouts.
ULM 2, North Texas 1
Navarrete and Elena DiMattia came up with identical 2-for-3 performances in the
nightcap for ULM's only multi-hit showings of the day. Salanoa and Miller also
went 1-for-2, and DiMattia and Charlotte Pastor provided a run apiece.
Haylie Wilson earned her 10th win in the circle
this season after she allowed just one earned run off nine hits in all seven
innings of action.
ULM came from behind for the second time in two games by
taking advantage of an error that allowed Pastor to reach. Miller and Katie Girardi
pushed her over two bases with a sacrifice bunt and fly out, and Navarrete
provided a clutch single by beating out the throw to first to allow Pastor to
score the go-ahead run.
The Mean Green took the initial lead again, this time in the
third inning when Brooke Foster, Lisa Johnson and Fraley put together
three-straight singles to plate a run from second.
Salanoa drove in the equalizer an inning later, scoring
DiMattia who benefitted from a North Texas throwing error to get on.
Foster and Lesley Hirsch each had multi-hit outings in
2-for-4 and 2-for-3 efforts, respectively. Foster scored North Texas' lone run
of the game. Brittany Simmons threw a complete game and gave up six hits and no
earned runs.
The final contest of the three-game series begins at 1 p.m.
tomorrow at the ULM Softball Complex.
