CONROE, TEXAS – The pitching duo of Tatum Goff and Shea O'Leary combined with the efforts of the heart of the Patriot order helped lead UT Tyler to a 4-1 opening day win against Regis at the Scrap Yard Sports Complex.
 
The win solidified a quality start to the 2023 season for the Patriots, and notched head coach Mike Reed's 800^th career win over his 22-year coaching career. Reed is 800-168 as a collegiate head coach, with 695 of those wins coming during his 19-year tenure at UT Tyler.
 
Goff struckout seven over her 5.2 innings of work in the Patriot's first of five games over the weekend at the DII Spring Invitational Kickoff, and then gave way to O'Leary in the bottom half of the sixth for the final four batters of the game. O'Leary retired all four batters she faced to pick up the save in her UT Tyler debut.
 
The Goff-O'Leary duo relied on the heart of the Patriot order for offensive support as Audrey Escamilla and JT Smith combined for a 5-for-6 effort at the plate in the three and four spots of the lineup. Escamilla was a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish with a pair of RBI singles that scored Smith following each of her two triples.
 
The first of Smith's triples scored leadoff batter Courtney Plocheck in the bottom half of the first inning to answer Goff's only conceded earned run in the top half of the inning. Escamilla drove in Smith in the ensuing at-bat to give UT Tyler a lead that would hold throughout the rest of the ballgame.
 
Goff then provided her own run support in the bottom of the fourth with a sac fly to rightfield that scored pinch-runner Berlyn Grossman from third, who came on to pinch-run for sophomore Maddie Melton. The Smith-Escamilla pairing put the fourth and final run on the board for UT Tyler in the bottom of the fifth after Smith's leadoff triple set Escamilla up for her second RBI single of the afternoon.
 
Regis tried to work themselves back into the ballgame in the top of the sixth with runners on first and second with just one out. Third baseman Michelle Arias made a great defensive play on the ensuing at-bat to record the second out, and then O'Leary popped the third out of the inning up to second base to avoid anymore threats from the Rangers.
 
O'Leary looked impressive in her UT Tyler debut and quickly retired all three batters she faced in order in the top of the seventh to earn the save, UT Tyler's first win of 2023 and head coach Mike Reed's 800th career victory.
 
Escamilla finished with two RBI and Smith a 2-for-3 outing with two runs scored and an RBI. Plocheck, Melton and sophomore Keely Castillo provided the additional hits to run UT Tyler's total to eight for the day.
 
The Patriots will take on #13 Augustana and Metro State in back-to-back outings tomorrow afternoon beginning at 1:15 p.m. in Conroe.