DENVER, COLO. - #1 UT Tyler went down to the final strike in consecutive at-bats before walking it off in the bottom of the seventh inning to advance in the 2022 NCAA Division II World Series with a 4-3 win over no. 3 seeded Auburn-Montgomery.
A hard-hit ground ball to the shortstop from senior
Shannon Klaus forced a fielding error by the Warhawks to allow
Michelle Arias to come home for the winning run to send the Patriots to another game tomorrow afternoon against no. 5 seeded Rogers State. A 2-0 lead through six innings vanished on a two-out, two-run homer by Auburn-Montgomery in the top of the seventh inning to force a bottom half of the inning in an elimination game for both sides.
UT Tyler got the leadoff runner on as senior
Bayli Simon drew a walk to start what could have been the final trip to the plate of the 2022 season for UT Tyler. A fly-out, and then a ground-out that moved Simon over to second, put the Patriots just one out away from elimination.
Sophomore
Michelle Arias, who stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter, singled to centerfield with two strikes to put runners on first and third. A passed ball allowed Simon to come home to score the tying run, and then Klaus' rocket shot to the shortstop bounced off the glove of the fielder and allowed Arias to come home to score for the walk-off victory to keep UT Tyler in the Division II World Series.
Arias advanced to third with heads up baserunning on the passed ball that scored Simon, making her way over to third on a bad throw from the catcher back to the pitcher for the Warhawks after Simon slid across home plate to make it 2-2. Klaus then made that extra-effort play from Arias count despite an 0-2 count by putting a ball in play that resulted in a second consecutive costly error for Auburn-Montgomery to give UT Tyler another game in Denver.
Senior
Tatum Goff didn't allow a single hit through 4.0 innings of work in her third consecutive start of the World Series, and then worked around a double by the Warhawks in the top of the fifth inning to keep a two-run Patriot advantage in-tact. Goff have herself the early lead with an RBI double in the bottom of the first that scored classmate
Ashley Perez, and then got some breathing room heading in the bottom of the sixth inning after a leadoff solo homer from sophomore
Courtney Plocheck.
Plocheck had a hand in a key defensive play for the Patriots late in the ballgame as well, making a difficult over the should catch in foul territory with a runner on third in the top of the fifth inning for the third out of the frame. That catch kept the Warhawks off of the board in the fifth, and would prove vital as Auburn-Montgomery finally found some offense against Goff in the top of the seventh.
A leadoff walk and an ensuing single for the Warhawks in the top of the seventh brought freshman
Kaylee Davis into the circle with runners on first and second. Davis forced a flyout on the ensuing batter, and then got a quick second out of the inning on a fielder's choice despite allowing the first Auburn-Montgomery run of the inning to score.
Davis worked deep into the count on the next batter with two strikes and two outs on the board, but a homerun to dead center from Molly Cobb of the Warhawks briefly changed the game and made it 3-2 in favor of Auburn-Montgomery.
The UT Tyler bats and the heads-up base running from Arias made-up for that stretch of offense for the Warhawks, and allowed Davis to pick up her 10
th win of the 2022 season. Goff went 6.0 complete innings and struckout seven while allowing just two earned runs.
Plocheck and Goff picked up the lone RBI for the Patriots offense, while Plocheck finished her day 1-for-3 with a run scored as well.
UT Tyler will now have to defeat no. 5 seed Rogers State twice tomorrow afternoon to advance to the championship best-of-three series in the tournament. First pitch for the possible two games tomorrow is set for a 12 p.m. CST first pitch, while the if-necessary game two will get started at 5 p.m. CST.
