ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington catcher Morgan Rios hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10^th to lift the Mavericks to a 3-2 victory over the ULM softball team Friday night at Allan Saxe Field. Both teams stranded nine in the extra-inning affair with the Warhawks scoring runs in the first and fourth off UTA errors.
 
"We have to score runs -- we are not going to win unless we score," said ULM head coach Molly Fichtner. "Our empty at-bats are coming when we have a runner at first and no outs. We have to do something productive to get them into scoring position and we have to come up with the clutch hit. Kinsey (Kackley) gave us a great start. I thought Rocky (Adrianna Chavarria) came in and did a great job. Defense was perfect tonight and our offensive just has to figure it out."
 
ULM took a 1-0 lead when Alexis Chavez started the game with a single and came around to score after a Maverick error allowed her to advance to second. She moved over to third on a ground out and then came home on a Kennedy Johnson fly ball to left field for the 1-0 Warhawk lead.
 
In the fourth, a fielder's choice and ground out put Lourdes Bacon in scoring position with one out. Kinsey Kackley hit the ball near third base, but the first baseman dropped the ball on the catch, and was then delayed throwing home, allowing Bacon to score and giving ULM a 2-0 lead. The third out came when Rios caught Kackley headed to second base.
 
A single by Maverick Jessica Carreon and a two-out walk issued to Jadyn Erickson set the table for KJ Murphy in the bottom of the fifth. Murphy hit a double to right-center to bring them both home and tie the score at 2-2. The score remained knotted for the next four innings, going to extra frames after Adrianna Chavarria retired the Mavericks one-two-three in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Chavez, Kackley and Korie Kreps each had two hits for the Warhawks with Bacon and Kennedy Johnson chipping in one apiece.
 
Rios and Murphy combined for five of the Mavericks' nine hits. Rios went 3-for-5 on the night and had the game-winning home run and Murphy had two hits in five at-bats, including her two-RBI double.
 
UT Arlington (13-14, 4-6) finished the game with nine hits to the Warhawks' eight and had three errors, which led to two unearned ULM runs. Jessica Adams threw 159 pitches and earned the win with the complete game. Chavarria and starter Kinsey Kackley (5-4) each pitched 4.2 innings with Kackley taking the loss.
 
ULM and UT Arlington face off again Saturday at 2 p.m. CT with Sunday's game set for a noon CT start. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats are available on the schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.