April 27, 2008
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Sophomore Brittany Washington led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a game-winning home run to left field as UT Arlington rallied for a 5-4 victory Sunday and completed a three-game sweep of Southeastern Louisiana.
Freshman Whitney Simpson sent the game to extra innings with her second homer of the game leading off the seventh. Washington's ninth bomb of the season gave sophomore Cara Hulme (15-5) her third victory of the Southland Conference series.
The Mavericks (24-20, 17-10 SLC) extended their winning streak at Allan Saxe Field to eight games. They improved their record to 24-13 all-time against the Lady Lions (27-23, 14-15), including a 15-3 mark in Arlington.
UTA returns to action Wednesday with a non-conference game at North Texas at 6 p.m. The Mavericks will wrap up the regular season next weekend at home against Central Arkansas, starting with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.
Simpson was 3-for-3 with her sixth and seventh homers. Senior Katie Jones was 4-for-4 on Sunday and 8-for-11 in the three-game series. Hulme struck out eight batters in eight innings of work. For the weekend, the tireless right-hander pitched 22.0 innings and allowed 17 hits and five earned runs while striking out 20 and walking 10.
SLU jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning on a walk by Kaley Christy and a two-run homer by Katie Duhe. The Lady Lions extended their advantage to 3-0 with a solo homer by Brooke Lockhart in the third inning.
The Mavericks started their comeback in the third inning with a leadoff hit by Simpson. Senior April Clougherty came in to run and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by senior Brittany Stevens. Jones drove Clougherty home with a double to the fence in left-center field.
UTA knotted the score at 3-3 as Simpson started a two-out rally in the fifth with a long home run. Stevens walked, moved to third on a single by Jones and scored on a base hit down the left-field line by junior Christina Allen.
Duhe put the Lady Lions back on top with an RBI double in the top of the seventh, but three strikeouts by Hulme and a fine defensive play by Stevens at second base limited the damage and set the stage for the home-run heroics of Simpson and Washington.
Rachel Ray (15-13) went the distance for SLU, allowing five runs on 10 hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
