TYLER, TEXAS - #3 UT Tyler used two early homers from
Michelle Arias and a shutdown relief performance from
Shea O'Leary to win 9-4 over no. 9 seeded St. Edward's in Thursday's quarterfinals of the 2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Championship.
UT Tyler extended their win streak to 29 straight in the process and will meet the winner of the no. 4 Lubbock Christian and no. 5 Cameron game in tomorrow night's semifinals at 6:30 p.m. The no. 1 overall seed in the tournament wasted no time jumping out to a 7-3 lead after three innings of play and then rode the effort of O'Leary in the circle to their first postseason win of the 2023 season.
O'Leary came on for starter
Tatum Goff and retired the first 12 batters she faced after the Hilltoppers briefly tied the contest at 3-3 in the third inning. Arias hit the first of her two homers, a three-run blast, in the bottom of the first to put the Patriots ahead.
St. Edward's used a bases-clearing double with two outs in that third frame to tie the game up before O'Leary came on and got the third out. That lead lasted just two batters into the bottom half of the inning as Arias hit a no-doubt two-run homer that scored
Courtney Plocheck to regain the advantage for UT Tyler at 5-3.
An RBI single by
Sam Schott and a groundout by
Maddie Melton added runs no. 3 and 4 in the inning for the Patriots to extend the lead to 7-3. O'Leary tossed perfect fourth, fifth and sixth innings to keep the momentum squarely on the side of the Patriots and moved to 15-2 on the year with the victory.
The Lone Star Conference's Newcomer of the Year went 4.1 innings and allowed just a pair of hits while striking out four.
Senior
Avery Farr added a run in the fourth with an RBI single and then closed out the scoring for UT Tyler in the sixth with a fielder's choice that allowed Arias to score her fourth run of the game to make it 9-3. O'Leary allowed her only two hits of the game in the top of the seventh, resulting in an eventual unearned run to bring the score to it's 9-4 final.
Arias went 3-for-3 with five RBI and four runs scored, and added a pair of stolen bases as well to the effort. Farr and Schott joined Arias with multi-hits, each finishing with a pair of hits.
The Patriots will ride the Division II-best 29-game winning streak into tomorrow's semifinals scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.