Bitter pill to swallow

May 08, 2009

MARSHALL,
Texas - A walkoff home run in the 10th inning by All-American Roo Richardson lifted
Texas-Tyler to a 3-2 victory over top-ranked Linfield on the second day of action
at the NCAA Division III West Regional on the campus of East Texas Baptist University.



The Wildcats (37-5) fall into an elimination game Saturday at 2 p.m. Central Time
versus Louisiana College. Should they win, Linfield would then
face the loser of the morning game between Texas-Tyler and East Texas Baptist at 4.


Friday’s game was a proverbial boxing match with both teams absorbing the
other team’s best offensive punches and relief pitchers playing a major
role in the outcome.


Richardson’s game-winning homer, her only hit of the game, came on a two-strike
count from Wildcats All-American Brittany Miller (Sr., Port Orchard, Wash.).


Capitalizing
on RBI singles by Ashley Klores and Kate Bell, UT-Tyler manufactured two runs
in the fourth inning and appeared headed to victory on the strength of starter
Stacy Shepherd. But in the sixth, Shepherd walked Rochelle Friend (Jr., Hood River, Ore.) and freshman all-star Emilee Lepp (Fr., Colville, Wash.) bashed her ninth home run of the season to knot the game at 2.



The game remained that way until the 10th. Miller and UTT reliever Kelsey Ainsworth
alternated working their way out of jams in the late innings. Linfield pushed a runner to third base in the ninth with two outs, but Jaydee Baxter (Fr., Damascus, Ore.) struck out swinging to end the Wildcats' best chance to win the game in extra innings.


Alex Hartmann (Soph., Medina, Wash.) had two hits for the Wildcats, who stranded nine runners to the
Patriots’ six.


“We had every opportunity to win, but we just didn’t get the clutch
hit when we needed it,” said Wildcats coach Jackson Vaughan. “We had
several opportunities as the game went along.”


Linfield,
which won the 2007 NCAA championship by surviving four straight elimination games
in the regionals, must play two games Saturday in order to extend its season at least one more day.



“We’ll see how the team responds,” said Vaughan. “Hopefully,
the girls will come back and play well as has been our tradition. We didn’t
lose today because we weren’t good enough, we lost because we just didn’t
make enough plays.”


‘CAT SCRATCH: Linfield outhit the Patriots 5-4. . . the game was eerily
reminiscent of last season’s 6-4 nine-inning Texas-Tyler playoff victory
in which the Wildcats outhit their counterparts 14-8. . . Vaughan and the Wildcats
are now 25-12 in playoff games since 2004. . . In other contests Friday, La Verne
eliminated SCIAC rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 4-0 and East Texas Baptist knocked
off Louisiana College 1-0. . . East Texas Baptist beat La Verne 2-1 in Friday's late game, ending the Leopards' season.

Alex Hartmann
Two hits plus clutch defense