TYLER, TEXAS - #4 UT Tyler won both ballgames in 5-2 and 6-5 fashion to hand #22 West Texas A&M their first two losses of the 2023 season on Friday night.
 
The Patriots scored five runs off nine hits in game one and then plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth in game two to negate a 5-3 lead in favor of West Texas A&M to secure wins on a late night of softball in Tyler. The Patriots provided key heads-up baserunning throughout the evening to take advantage of some fielding mistakes by the Lady Buffs to move to 18-3 overall and 9-2 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Senior Audrey Escamilla went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning of game one to lead the Patriot offense. West Texas A&M answered with two runs of their own, both unearned, in the top of the second to even the game at 2-2.
 
That was all the Lady Buffs could muster at the plate against UT Tyler starter Tatum Goff, who tossed her seventh complete game of the season to remain unbeaten in 2023 with a perfect 11-0 record. Goff allowed just five hits on the day and struckout three to navigate a West Texas A&M offense that entered the series ranked second in the LSC in team batting average to just two runs.
 
Sophomore Sam Schott scored the go-ahead run on an RBI single to right that scored pinch-runner Grace Davis to make it 3-2. UT Tyler loaded the bases with two outs a few batters later, and took advantage of a passed ball on the Lady Buffs to score a fourth run on a heads-up baserunning decision from Schott.
 
 Goff worked around a leadoff double in the top of the fifth to keep the 4-2 lead in-tact, as the Lady Buffs were picked off at third base to end the inning with runners on second and third. Sophomore JT Smith stole home for the fifth run of the game in the bottom of the sixth to bring the score to it's eventual 5-2 final.
 
UT Tyler scored three runs between the two games on a wild pitch, a passed ball and the aforementioned stolen base, to highlight a great evening of baserunning for the Patriots.
 
No running decision was as important as the last one of the night for UT Tyler, as Schott scored what would stand as the winning run in the bottom of the sixth of game two on a wild pitch. That run completed a UT Tyler comeback after three solo homers for the Lady Buffs, one in the second and two in the fifth, gave West Texas A&M their only lead of the day at 4-3.
 
West Texas A&M added another run in that fifth inning with a stolen base of their own to make it 5-3. Senior Shea O'Leary came on in relief of starter Kaylee Davis in that frame and worked out of a one-out jam with a runner on third. O'Leary stranded three baserunners in the sixth and seventh to pick up the win after 2.2 innings of relief work.
 
The Patriots scored three runs in their first and last trips to the plate of the ballgame in different fashions as Escamilla and senior Caitlin Wells strung together a pair of singles in the first to plate three runs for the early lead.
 
Schott got the comeback started in the sixth with an RBI single that scored pinch-runner Berlyn Grossman, who came on to run for Wells after a leadoff walk. Michelle Arias and Cassidi Mullen drew the second and third walks of the frame in ensuing at-bats after the Schott single, the latter of which scored Courtney Plocheck for the tying run.
 
A wild pitch in the ensuing at bat allowed Schott to score the winning run on a heads-up baserunning effort with one out. O'Leary closed the door in the seventh after a leadoff single to move to 3-3 on the year with the win in the circle.
 
 UT Tyler scored their six runs off just five hits, all of which came off the bat of different Patriots. Wells drew a pair of walks and posted the two-RBI single to finish the game 1-for-1 at the plate.
 
Mullen, Escamilla and Schott all added an RBI, while the Patriot offense benefitted off of eight walks in the ballgame. Davis and O'Leary combined to strikeout eight batters, and stranded eight runners aboard as well.
 
UT Tyler will have an opportunity to take back sole possession of first place in the LSC standings in tomorrow's series finale scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.