TYLER, TEXAS - #1 UT Tyler capped off their home opening series with Arkansas-Monticello with 10-1 and 8-0 victories on Saturday afternoon at Suddenlink Field.
 
The Patriots completed the three-game sweep of Arkansas-Monticello with a trio of run-rule games, ending the first game on Saturday in five innings, and the finale in six innings. Sophomore Michelle Arias went 3-for-5 on the day with a homerun and five RBI while senior Bayli Simon finished her day 3-for-4 at the plate.
 
UT Tyler was outstanding in the circle throughout both games as well, striking out 14 batters in 11.0 innings of work as Sarah Gartman went 5.0 complete innings in game one and junior Payton Foster struckout eight in her 4.0 innings of work in game two.
 
Sophomore Courtney Plocheck highlighted the Patriot offense in the 10-1 game one victory, going 2-for-3 with three RBI from her leadoff role. UT Tyler responded after a solo homer in the top of the first by Arkansas-Monticello with eight runs in the bottom of third to roll to their 13^th straight win of the season.
 
That solo shot in the first inning by the Cottom Blossoms would be one of just three hits on the day conceded by the Patriots, as Gartman settled into her start from that point forward by shutting out Arkansas-Monticello in the following four frames. She finished her day with four strikeouts, and allowed just two more hits following that first inning.
 
The Patriots flipped the script on the Cotton Blossoms, who held their only lead of the weekend through two innings, in the third with seven runs scored with two outs in the frame. Plocheck notched the first of her three RBI in the frame with a single through the leftside that scored freshman Maddie Melton to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Senior Ashley Perez and Arias followed each other up with back-to-back doubles after the second out of the inning to drive in one run each to make it 3-1 in favor of UT Tyler. Senior Shannon Klaus continued the rally with a two-RBI single that scored Simon and Arias.
 
Senior Mak Dominguez made it 6-1 after advancing on one of three errors in the inning by Arkansas-Monticello, before Plocheck capped off the rally with her second and third RBI on a single up the middle. None of the eight runs in the inning were earned runs, as the Cotton Blossoms couldn't overcome the trio of errors, and had no answer for a Patriot offense that continued to put balls in play.
 
The Patriots tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, this time with no outs, on a single from Marek that scored Arias, and then a Cassidi Mullen walk with the bases loaded to score Simon. Gartman went back to work with the 10-1 lead and retired six out of the final seven batters that she faced in the game.
 
Foster took to the circle in game number two, and allowed just four hits while striking out eight to move to 8-0 on the year. Arias hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to open up the scoring, and then Mullen followed suit with a two-out single that scored Marek to make it 4-0 after the first.
 
Arias continued to put runs on the board for UT Tyler with a sac fly in her next at-bat that scored Dominguez to make it 5-0. Dominguez turned around and drove in a pair of Patriots to make it 7-0 through three innings of play with a single that scored Mullen and Klaus to extend the lead to seven.
 
Simon enacted the run-rule in the bottom of the sixth with a solo homer to dead center, capping off the day, her outstanding weekend and the series for the Patriots.
 
Marek, Mullen and Dominguez each had a pair of hits in the 8-0 game two victory, while Arias led the squad with four RBI and Dominguez the aforementioned pair of RBI. Freshman Kaylee Davis finished out the final two innings after coming in for relief of Foster, tossing 2.0 shutout innings to closeout the excellent effort from the UT Tyler pitching staff on the day.
 
The wins extend the UT Tyler win streak to 14 straight to open up 2022, and also give the squad their fifth and sixth run-rules of the year. The Patriots finished the day with 18 hits and 17 RBI to outscore the Cotton Blossoms by a final tally of 37-to-1 for the three-game series.
 
UT Tyler will now shift their focus to a pair of nationally-ranked opponents in their next two outings, as they are set to travel to #14 Rogers State next Sunday for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. in Claremore, Okla. The Lone Star Conference schedule will then get started for the program, as they begin the defense of their 2021 LSC Regular Season Championship with a trip to defending Division II National Champions #5 West Texas A&M on Friday, Mar. 4^th in Canyon, Texas.