Thanks in part to sophomore starting pitcher Allie Gardiner throwing 13 strikeouts and her first career complete-game shutout, the UT Arlington softball team (3-2) ended the Aggie Classic with a 2-0 win against Abilene Christian (1-3) on Sunday, edging out Texas A&M (3-2) and ACU for the tournament title.
 
The win comes a day after the Mavericks beat TAMU in a 5-4 comeback victory before eventually losing in the following game against ACU 4-2 on Saturday night. UTA split its doubleheader on Friday against the Aggies with a 2-0 loss in the first game followed by a 7-2 route over the tournament host in the nightcap.
 
Today's victory gives head coach Peejay Brun her 200th career win. She has led UTA to two-consecutive 30-win campaigns and the three victories this weekend gives her a .556 winning percentage over her two-plus year career as the Mav's skipper. Brun needs to rack up just 31 more victories to reach the century-mark in wins for her UTA career-record.
 
The Mavs' big inning came in the third when Kimber Cortemelia drove in the first UTA run with a single to center field. She followed that up by stealing second base, allowing Aileen Garcia to drive her in for the second and final Mav run of the game.
 
The meeting today marked just the third time Gardiner had started a contest in her career, making it the first complete-game shutout of her career. The 13 strikeouts place her in UTA's record book sitting alone in ninth place – just four punch-outs back of the all-time record set by Katie Cox back in 2003.
 
The victory today gave the Yorba Linda, California, product her second win on the season and in the three games she's appeared in, Gardiner has compiled 20 strikeouts over 14.2 innings pitched, giving up just seven hits while not allowing a single run.
 
Abilene Christian Recap
Gardiner began today's game by striking out six Wildcats in the first two innings and completed the first three frames with eight Wildcat punch-outs.
 
After leaving two runners stranded in the second, Reagan Hukill got on-base to lead off the third inning by taking one for the team via a hit-by-pitch. Whitney Walton preceded by advancing Hukill to second with a bunt down the first base line. After advancing to third on an ACU error, Cortemelia stepped to the dish and plated the freshman with an RBI single up the middle.
 
The Blinn-transfer set up the Mavs' following run by stealing second base, allowing first baseman Aileen Garcia to knock her in with a single of her own to center field.
 
The Mavs could only muster two more hits the rest of the way, finishing with a total of four in the ballgame. Fortunately for UTA, Gardiner brought her best stuff to the ballpark on Sunday.
 
After getting the first two outs of the fifth inning, Gardiner gave up a triple, leaving a Wildcat just 65 feet away from scoring their first run. She promptly struck out the next batter looking to keep the UTA 2-run lead intact.
 
Holding onto a two-run advantage in the seventh, the sophomore induced a ground ball to second for the first out of the inning. She fittingly struck out the final two Wildcats to end the inning and the game.
 
On top of punching out the 13 Wildcats, Gardiner struck out 11 of them swinging and didn't allow a free-pass the entire ballgame, holding ACU to just five hits.

NEXT UP
UTA will head back to Arlington to take part in its home-opener this weekend when they play host to Texas Southern, Stephen F. Austin, UMKC and Kent State in the Maverick Classic. The Mavs will open the tournament with a game against Texas Southern at 7 p.m. on Friday at Allan Saxe Field.