May 3, 2003

NATCHITOCHES, La...The University of Texas at Arlington softball squad continued to ease its way through the 2003 Southland Conference postseason tournament Saturday afternoon as it shutout host Northwestern State, 4-0, and eliminated the fourth seeded Lady Demons. The Lady Mavericks are 2-0 in the tourney, while fifth seeded Nicholls State is the lone other squad yet to lose.

The Lady Mavericks took an early lead after plating an unearned run in the top of the first inning. After reaching on a two base error by the NSU left fielder, Melanie Williams went to third on a single by Autumn Petrino and scored as UTA pulled off the double steal and took a 1-0 lead.

NSU threatened in the bottom of the second after UTA starter Katy Cox gave up a single and a double to lead off the inning. With runners on second and third and no outs, Cox struck out the next three batters to escape the Lady Demon threat.

Stephanie Owens singled up the middle to lead off the top of the seventh and advanced to third as Jennifer English reached on an error by the NSU second baseman. Before the NSU defense could notice, English continued on to third to put two runners in scoring position for the Lady Mavs. Williams followed with a single through the right side to plate Owens. Beverly Rowan added an RBI single to plate English before Autumn Pertino reached on an error and Williams crossed the plate for the final run of the inning.

Cox tossed her 12th complete game shutout of the year while being touched for three hits and striking out 13. She improved to 25-6 on the year.

Texas-Arlington returns to action this evening at 6:30 p.m. to face the winner of third seeded McNeese State and fifth seeded Nicholls State.

...utamavericks...