BENTONVILLE, ARK. - #1 UT Tyler hit four homeruns and scored 22 runs on the day to move to 7-0 on the year with 7-1 and 15-0 victories over Drury and Quincy to open up play in the Alvy Early Memorial Classic in Bentonville, Ark.
 
Two of those four homers between the two wins came off of the bat of sophomore Michelle Arias, who recorded nine RBI for the day while going 5-for-6 from the plate. The second Arias homer in the afternoon game, a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth, highlighted a 15-0 win over Quincy, the third game in the 2022 season that UT Tyler has ended after just five innings.
 
Redshirt sophomore Amanda Marek also hit a pair of homeruns for a UT Tyler club that totaled 10 extra-base hits on the day. Marek went 4-for-5 with six RBI and scored four runs.
 
Junior Payton Foster tossed her second complete game of the season in the 7-1 morning victory over Drury, allowing just a single earned run while striking out five along the way. Second game starter Sarah Gartman matched Foster with five strikeouts in her start, and didn't allow a single earned run in her 4.0 innings of work.
 
The Patriots came alive offensively in the bottom of the fourth inning in game one against Drury, finding themselves down by a 1-0 tally after a solo homer by the Panthers. Arias kick-started that offense after the lone earned run allowed for Foster to lead off the top of the fourth inning, driving a two-out triple to right field that scored Marek and sophomore Courtney Plocheck.
 
The 2-1 Patriot advantage held true through the fifth frame before a one-out rally in the bottom of the sixth broke the game open with the 7-1 lead. Marek drove in Plocheck, who bunted her way on, to get that rally started.
 
Arias then hit the first of her homers for the afternoon on the ensuing at-bat, extending the lead Patriot advantage to 5-1. Seniors Mak Dominguez and Bayli Simon finished up the scoring for UT Tyler with a pair of RBI singles to pad that 7-1 scoring differential before Foster closed the door on the Panthers in the top of the seventh to begin the weekend for the Patriots with their sixth straight win.
 
Foster allowed just four hits in her complete game effort, while Arias, Plocheck, Marek and sophomore Hanna Fradkin all finished the first game of the day with a pair of hits. Arias had four RBI in that win, while Marek and Plocheck each scored twice.
 
The afternoon finale was all UT Tyler as they scored five in the bottom of the first and then added 10 more runs between the third and fourth frames to enact the run-rule in the fifth inning. Marek had both of her homers in that 15-0 victory for the Patriots, while Arias notched five RBI.
 
Arias and Marek did the majority of their damage right out of the gate in that effort as Arias drove in Plocheck to get the scoring started in the bottom of the first, followed up by a three-run homer from Marek to make it 5-0 in favor of UT Tyler.
 
Marek then turned around and homered again in the midst of the second big inning for the Patriots, a two-run shot that extended the lead to 11-0 after a six-run bottom of the third. Arias then put the exclamation point on her tremendous day with a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth for her ninth RBI on the day and the 15-0 victory for the Patriots.
 
Arias was a perfect 3-for-3 in the win, totaling five RBI and three runs scored herself while Marek matched that output with five RBI of her own. Plocheck joined Arias and Marek with multiple hits, finishing game number two of the day 2-for-2 at the plate.
 
Gartman scattered three hits in her 4.0 innings of work, and struck out five before giving way to redshirt senior Jacey Henry, who made her Patriot debut in the circle in the top of the fifth inning without allowing a hit.
 
The two wins have extended the win streak to seven for UT Tyler to open up the 2022 season, and continued to pad an absurd start for the team as they have outscored their first seven opponents by a 73-to-13 margin. UT Tyler is batting .451 as a team, and already has 88 hits in just seven games.
 
The Patriots will be back for day two of the Alvy Early Memorial Classic tomorrow afternoon with two more games scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. starts against Missouri-St. Louis and Upper Iowa.