ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington softball team's (21-24) recent trend of success against Big 12 opponents this year came to an end on Tuesday night at Allan Saxe Field, as the Mavericks came up short against the 11th ranked team in the country, losing to the Texas Longhorns by the final score of 4-3.
 
Hits were hard to come by for both teams for the majority of the game as either team only had one hit through the first four innings.
 
Laura Henriksen got the call to start the game for the Mavericks, pitching a total of 3.1 innings while giving up four free passes and only one hit.
 
The lefty Brooke Bolinger started for the Longhorns and pitched 4.2 innings of the game before first year head coach Mike Thomas brought Bolinger back into the game in the seventh inning. Bolinger recorded two more outs before finishing the game with 5.1 innings pitched, allowing only two hits and two runs (one earned), while striking out three Maverick batters.
 
Following a leadoff walk to the first batter Henriksen faced in the second inning, Melanie Mendoza couldn't corral a hard-hit ball toward second base, allowing the Longhorns to come around to score the first run of the ballgame.
 
In the top of the third inning, Whitney Walton stepped to the plate with base runners on second and third and laced a hard-hit ground ball toward second base. Longhorn Janae Jefferson fielded the grounder, but after checking both runners to keep them from advancing, Jefferson committed an error of her own, throwing the ball wide of first base, surrendering two runs and UT Arlington's first lead of the game at 2-1.
 
After consecutive walks allowed by Henriksen in the top of the fourth inning, freshman Allie Gardiner was inserted into the game. After loading the bases with a hit-by-pitch, Gardiner got out of the jam after inducing two fly balls to the outfield.
 
Gardiner excelled again in the fifth inning, getting all three Longhorns out in order. The sixth inning was unlike the last though as Gardiner allowed the first three Texas batters to reach base. With the bases loaded, shortstop Kaitlyn Slack stepped to the plate and delivered a single to left field, scoring two runs and a Longhorn lead of 3-2.
 
Maverick Head Coach Peejay Brun went to the bullpen and inserted sophomore Randi Phillips into the game with no outs recorded. Phillips escaped the inning by allowing only one more Longhorn to cross home plate, sending the Mavericks to the bottom of the sixth inning, trailing 4-2.
 
UT Arlington loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning before KJ Murphy stepped to the plate with two outs. Just as Maverick fans were getting to the edge of their seats, Longhorn catcher Mary Iakopo derailed any hope of a comeback. As the pitch came in, Iakopo threw a dart down to third base, picking off her second base runner of the game, and the final out of the inning.
 
The Mavericks would get one last chance in the seventh inning as Murphy stepped back into the batter's box down two runs. With the Maverick bench up and their rally caps on, Murphy hammered a pitch to center field, clearing the outfield fence for her second home run of the season.
 
With two Mavericks on-base and only one out, Bolinger came back into the game and promptly put a stop to the Maverick rally, getting the final two batters to pop up and fly out to end the ballgame.
 
UP NEXT
The Mavericks will look to get back into the winning column when they host conference foe Coastal Carolina in a three-game set starting Thursday, April 18 at 5 p.m. at Allan Saxe Field.