TYLER, TEXAS – Sophomore Tatum Goff threw 5.0 complete innings and went 2-for-2 with a three-run homer to lead no. 1 seeded UT Tyler to an 8-0 run-rule victory over no. 8 seeded Colorado Christian in game one of the 2022 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament.
 
The Patriots advance to tomorrow's noon game against no. 4 seeded Lubbock Christian, who won game two by a 6-5 final in 13 innings over no. 5 seeded Angelo State on Thursday afternoon. The winner of tomorrow's UT Tyler-Lubbock Christian game will advance to Saturday's game six at noon.
 
Goff struckout eight Cougars on Thursday afternoon in her second complete game shutout of the postseason, allowing just three hits. The Rusk, Texas native also generated her own offense in the bottom of the first inning with a three-run homer to begin a ballgame in which UT Tyler would score a run in all four trips to the plate.
 
Goff, senior Shannon Klaus and sophomore Amanda Marek all registered two hits for an offense that scored eight runs off of 11 hits in the ballgame.
 
Marek hit an RBI single in the four-run bottom of the first inning that scored pinch-runner Cassidi Mullen to make to 4-0 in favor of UT Tyler after one inning of play. Sophomore Audrey Escamilla added a two-RBI single that scored Courtney Plocheck and Klaus in the second to make it 6-0 in favor of the Patriots.
 
Plocheck then added the seventh run on the board for the no. 1 seeded Patriots in the bottom of the third on a groundout that plated Marek, before Goff worked around her only jam of the afternoon in the ensuing top of the fourth. A pair of walks and then a single loaded the bases with Cougars with no outs, but the sophomore lefty generated three outs that didn't leave the infield to keep Colorado Christian off the board.
 
A two-out RBI single from Bayli Simon in the bottom of the fourth gave the Patriots the eight runs needed to enact their second run-rule of the postseason after previously taking down West Texas A&M by a 10-0 final tally in five innings in last weekend's Lone Star Conference Softball Championship.
 
The Patriots will now play Lubbock Christian tomorrow afternoon for a chance to advance to Saturday's final game of the double-elimination bracket, in a game that would set the winner up with two chances to secure a win on Saturday and advance to next weekend's NCAA Division II Super Regional against the winner of the other side of the bracket. That best of three game series is scheduled for May 19-20, at the highest remaining seed's host site.
 
First pitch for tomorrow's contest is scheduled for a noon start.