ARLINGTON, Texas – A five-run seventh inning lifted the UT Arlington softball team (29-24, 17-10 Sun Belt) over the Texas State Bobcats and into third place in the Sun Belt standings. KJ Murphy's two-run single completed the rally for the Mavericks.
 
The Mavericks finished with 12 hits on the day, led by Murphy's three.  Whitney Walton, Krista Rude and Laura Curry each finished with multi-hit days.  Murphy also led the Mavericks with three RBI, while Aileen Garcia and Curry finished with two each.
 
Three pitchers combined to pick up the win.  Randi Phillips earned the start, allowing four runs off six hits while tossing 3.1 innings.  Allie Gardiner replaced Phillips in the fourth, allowing two runs off six hits in one inning, before JoJo Valencia replaced her in the fifth.  Valencia tossed 2.2 innings, allowing just run hit off two runs.
 
Scoring had to wait until the third inning, but once the teams got rolling, there was no stopping them.  The Bobcats scored first, hitting a two-run home run to take the early 2-0 lead.
 
UTA responded in the bottom of the third as Curry drove home Walton from second base to make it a one run game.
 
Texas State continued to displayed the long ball in the fourth inning, hitting another two-run home run to push their lead to three runs.  A double and a single put runners on the corners for Texas State before scoring the runner at third with a sacrifice fly, making it a 5-1 ball game.
 
Murphy led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run to dead center.  Brittany Wyllie followed with a single, eventually advancing to third off a wild pitch.  Walton drove in Wyllie with a single past second base to cut the deficit to two runs.
 
The Bobcats got one back in the top of the fifth, using their second sacrifice fly of the day to score their sixth run. They held the Mavericks scoreless in the fifth and sixth inning and extended their lead one more in the seventh, scoring when a runner tagged up at third base on a fly ball caught in foul territory.
 
With the score at 7-3, the Mavericks pulled out their rally cheese.  A quick foul out began the inning, but Walton followed with a double down the left field line. Krista Rude beat out a bunt attempt to put runners at the corners for the Mavericks.
 
Curry followed Rude with an RBI single that made its way through the right side of the infield to score Walton and push Rude to third base.  After Curry stole second, Garcia smashed a two-run double to right field to make it a 7-6 ball game. 
 
Reagan Wright followed Garcia with a double, hitting the left field wall to put runners at second and third, before Murphy finished the game with a two-RBI line drive back at the pitcher, bouncing off her into the outfield to give the Mavericks the 8-7 come-from-behind win.
 
UP NEXT
With the regular season finished, the Mavericks will head to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament where they will be the No. 3 seed.  They will await the winner of #6 Coastal Carolina and #7 Georgia Southern.  The game will be played on Wednesday, May 8 at 3:00 p.m. in San Marcos, Texas.