ARLINGTON, Texas – Maddie Bowlds and Brylee Hage each tallied multi-hit performances in WKU's midweek game at UT Arlington to open the Hilltoppers' spring break road trip. Despite scoring first, the Red and White would eventually fall 5-4 to the Mavs from Allan Saxe Field in Arlington, Texas.
"This was obviously not the outcome we wanted, but I'm proud of our efforts to respond after being down in the first inning," head coach Amy Tudor commented. "The mistakes we made were costly today."
With its second midweek tilt of the season in the books, WKU Softball (20-5) will return to Conference USA play this weekend at preseason favorite North Texas (19-5). UT Arlington improved to 12-13 on the year with Tuesday night's victory.
Jordan Thomas led off the game with a walk to extend her reached base streak to 21-consecutive games. Maddie Bowlds would follow with her first of two hits on the day – a bunt single – before Brylee Hage sent a base hit back up the middle to load the bases. Kendall Smith followed with an RBI single to score Thomas before Taylor Sanders drew an RBI walk to plate Bowlds and give the Tops a 2-0 advantage.
UT Arlington would respond in the bottom of the frame with four runs of its own and would lead the rest of the way. The Mavs would also send eight batters to the plate in the opening inning.
Both starting pitchers' days would be done by the top of the second inning. Kelsey Aikey would take the loss for the Hilltoppers after being relieved by Shelby Nunn while the Mavs' second pitcher, Allie Gardiner, earned the win.
With two outs in the top of the second, Bowlds connected for her second hit of the game – a home run to right field that cut the Red and White's deficit to one at 4-3. The homer was the first of the season for Bowlds and the second of her career. She now owns three multi-hit outings on the season as well.
UT Arlington added its fourth and fifth hits of the game in the bottom of the second and would get the run back for a 5-3 advantage. Nunn and the Hilltopper defense would work to retire 13 of the final 14 UTA batters, allowing just one more base hit in the game.
WKU battled back again in the top of the sixth as Hage got things going with her second single of the game. Smith drew a walk before Taylor Davis would reach on an error in a pinch-hit appearance that allowed Hage to score. From there, a caught stealing, fielder's choice and ground out would end the Hilltopper threat.
The teams would trade three-up, three-down innings to close the game. WKU would end up stranded five runners on base to UTA's three. Hits between the sides were even at 6-6.
NEXT GAME:
WKU will be back in action from Friday-Sunday as the Hilltoppers visit preseason favorite North Texas in Denton. First pitch Friday night is slated for 6 p.m. CT before a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a noon first pitch on Sunday.
How to Follow the Hilltoppers: For complete information on WKU Softball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUSoftball, Instagram @WKU_Softball and Facebook /WKUSoftball.
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