No. 15 Softball Falls to No. 11 Texas in Series Finale

LUBBOCK, Texas – Junior hurler Missy Zoch tallied six strikeouts and surrendered just four hits, but a two-run top of the fourth for the Longhorns proved to be too much as the No. 15 Texas Tech softball team dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 11 Texas to end its Big 12 Conference series, Sunday afternoon at Rocky Johnson Field.

In front of a record 1,294 fans, sophomores Trenity Edwards and Breanna Russell both recorded doubles for Tech’s only hits of the game. With the loss, Tech fell to 30-8 on the season and 3-6 in league play, while Zoch dropped to 12-5 in her first season with the Red Raiders.

Tech’s new attendance record broke the previous mark of 1,258 set back on March 23, 2019, against No. 2 Oklahoma.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both teams showed solid defense and battled back-and-forth for the first three innings. Zoch recorded three strikeouts in the opening three frames and did not allow a single Texas hit until the top of the fourth.

After Tech and Texas entered the top of the fourth scoreless, and hitless, Longhorn Shannon Rhodes put Texas on top 1-0 with a solo home run that barely escaped the right-field wall. After a Texas single, Kaitlyn Washington extended the Longhorns’ lead 2-0 thanks to an RBI double.

Russell tried to respond with a leadoff double in the bottom of the frame, but two fly balls and a pop up ended Tech’s fourth-inning threat.

Freshman Peyton Blythe drew a walk to start the fifth and immediately moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Kelcy Leach. However, Texas hurler Miranda Elish struck out two Red Raiders and Tech came up empty handed once again.

Zoch kept the Texas offense at bay for the second straight inning in the top of the sixth and Edwards kept the momentum going with a one-out double to right center. However, after sophomore Olga Zamarripa came in to run, Tech hit into a double play and was unable to push across a run.

Zoch and the Tech defense gathered three outs on five pitches in the top of the seventh, but the Red Raiders could not respond in the final frame and fell, 2-0, in their series finale against Texas.

COMING UP NEXT

The Red Raiders head out on the road for a three-game series at Baylor on April 12-14 at Getterman Stadium in Waco, Texas.

–TECH–

Shannon Carrico