ARLINGTON, TX - The UT Arlington softball team opened the Maverick Invitational, falling to the Columbia Lions, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon at Allan Saxe Field. The Mavericks overall record dropped to 8-14 after the loss.

UTA struck first with a productive opening inning. The Mavericks plated three runs on three hits to take an early advantage.

Kaylee Schweitzer opened the scoring after Mia McNulty delivered an RBI-single to left field. McNulty later crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly from Dee McClarity to extend the lead and Kelsey Creech followed with an RBI single, bringing in Valeria Feeney to score and extend the lead 3-0 after the first inning.

The Lions answered in the second inning when Savanna Messner hit a two-run home run to put Columbia on the board, with the Mavericks still holding a one-run advantage, 3-2.

The Lions took the lead in the fifth inning. Alicia Marzucca launched a two-run homer to deep left, putting Columbia ahead 4-3. Columbia added another run in the seventh when Sarah Mikami doubled to deep center field to drive in Juju O'Brien across home plate and ultimately allowing Columbia to earn the win, 5-3.

UTA recorded seven hits in the game, led by multi-hit performances from Schweitzer, McNulty and Creech.
 
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