Houston swept a double header with Houston Baptist while No. 18/15 UCF and USF picked up wins over Maryland and Maine, respectively, during softball action around The American on Tuesday.
Two home runs and a grand slam by junior pitcher/designated player Julana Shrum highlighted Houston’s two-game sweep over crosstown rival Houston Baptist at Cougar Softball Stadium. With the two wins Tuesday night, Houston improved to a 9-12 record while the Huskies fall to 6-10 on the year. Game two marked the Cougars’ third run-rule victory of the season. Shrum led the Cougars’ as she went 5-for-6 against the Husky pitching staff with two home runs in the first game and a grand slam during the final inning of game two. She plated 10 runs in the two games and walked twice. In the circle, the Oklahoma native put on a top-notch performance allowing only one run on three hits while striking out five.
Trailing 6-5 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, sophomore Brittany Solis hit a three-run home run to lift UCF to an 8-6 walk-off win over Maryland at the UCF Softball Complex. The game between UCF (15-3) and Maryland (12-8) was a late addition to the schedule, but the Knights had one of their best offensive games of the season in the win. Senior Maddy Schroeder sparked UCF in the bottom of the third with the first home run of her career. The UCF rally in the seventh started with a solo home run from Cenal, her fourth homer of the season. A fielding error and a walk put a pair of runners on with two outs for Solis, whose first home run of the season was the game-winner.
Sam Greiner nearly threw a no-hitter and USF (11-7) used a six-run third inning to defeat Maine (4-6), 7-0 win, at the USF Softball Stadium. Greiner had her no-hit bid broken up in the sixth after giving up a single to Maine’s leadoff hitter Rachel Carlson. The senior from Sparta, N.J., still finished the game with four strikeouts and improved to 4-1 on the season. Lee Ann Spivey had a great day at the plate, hitting a home run and tying her career-high with four RBIs for the second time this season.
Mistakes in the early innings cost Memphis as they fell 8-0 to Ole Miss in five innings at Ole Miss Softball Complex in Oxford, Miss. The Tigers (6-8) had three errors in the first three innings, which resulted in eight runs for Mississippi (13-5). However, only three of those runs were credited as earned runs toward starting pitcher Jordan Richwood (4-4), who took the loss. Richwood threw 4.0 innings and struck out five batters in the 103 pitches she threw, only walking two.