TYLER, TEXAS – Junior
Tatum Goff threw a one-hitter to propel no. 1 seeded UT Tyler to the 2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Championship finals with a 5-0 win over no. 5 seeded Cameron on Friday night.
#3 UT Tyler won game no. 30 in a row in Friday night's semifinal and will square off with no. 3 seeded Oklahoma Christian at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the championship game. The Patriots will have the opportunity to claim their first LSC Tournament Title in the second year of postseason eligibility tomorrow afternoon.
Goff faced two batters above the minimum, surrendering just a single hit and a walk, while striking out five over her 7.0 complete innings of work. The Rusk, Texas native moved to 34-0 on the season on her 20
th complete game.
Seven different batters recorded a hit for UT Tyler and junior
Audrey Escamilla went 2-for-3 to highlight the offensive support for Goff. Escamilla drove in junior
Michelle Arias in the bottom of the second to put the inaugural run on the board for the Patriots on an RBI single.
Goff retired the first nine Aggies in order and then got two more runs of support in the third on an RBI single from
Courtney Plocheck and a sac fly from Arias that scored sophomore
Sam Schott. Schott used her speed on that sac fly to score on the shallow fly from Arias.
Goff allowed her only two base runners in the fourth and stranded both to keep the 3-0 lead in-tact. Escamilla led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to left and then scored on an RBI double from junior Caitlin Wells.
Sophomore
Keely Castillo pinch hit a few batters later and drove in the fifth and final run on an RBI single up the middle.
All five RBI in the game for the Patriots came from a different batter. Four of the eight UT Tyler hits on the evening went for extra bases.
UT Tyler and Oklahoma Christian will now get ready for championship Saturday at Irwin Ballpark tomorrow afternoon with the LSC Tournament Title and the automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division II South Central Regional on the line at 2 p.m.
