May 7, 2006
Box Score
NATCHITOCHES, La. - Texas-San Antonio came into the 2006 BellSouth Southland Conference Tournament known for their offensive power. Little did anyone know their 89 regular-season home runs would be prelude to their weekend long long-ball barrage.
UTSA hit a tournament-record 14 home runs, including five home runs on Sunday to defeat UT Arlington 8-3 to go through the tournament undefeated and advance to the NCAA regionals.
UTA (32-22) advanced to the SLC title game earlier in the day on a 3-1, eight-inning win over Texas State. The title game was the fifth game in 48 hours for the Mavericks.
"I can't say enough about how we played this weekend," said UTA head coach Debbie Hedrick. "I thought we played well in all three areas of the game and I can't more proud of a team. Texas-San Antonio will be a great representative for our league and I hope they can show the country that the Southland Conference is a good softball conference."
UTSA (37-12) got all their offense from the long ball during the tournament. Six different players hit 14 home runs during the tournament. All 22 runs they scored came by virtue of the home run in the tournament. Aimee Murray, Rachel Rackley and Amanda Horton each belted solo homers to all three fields in the first two innings for a quick 3-0 lead. Rackey added a towering shot to left field for a grand slam in the third inning for a 7-0 lead. Horton added another solo shot to right field for her second homer of the day and an 8-0 lead.
Rackley finished the game 4-for-4 with five RBI and two runs scored to join teammates Jessica Els, Ursula Mares and Stacey Gillespie on the all-tournament team. UTA's Autumn Petrino, Jenna Fortune and Jill Garro were named to the squad along with Texas State's Kristin Gunter, Amy Hromadka, Alex Newton and Nicholls State's Brandi Hahn. Els was named the tournament MVP.
Amanda Nikolenko (23-5) allowed just a Katie Jones single through the first six innings before UTA scored all three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Courtni Anderson reached on an error by Nikolenko, Dee Jay Nelson singled before Jenna Fortune homered to left field.
Laura Jones (11-7) lost to UTSA for the second time in two days. She took the loss in a 7-5 decision late Saturday night despite striking out a career-high 16 batters.
NOTES: UTSA tied their SLC season record of 103 home runs set last season... UTA ended the season with a school-record 31 home runs... Deejay Nelson and Jenna Fortune set the school record for single-season home runs with eight apiece.
