TYLER, TEXAS - #3 UT Tyler hit a walk-off sacrifice fly on an attempted intentional walk of Michelle Arias to claim the 2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Tournament Championship with a 4-3 win over Oklahoma Christian.
 
Arias, who was named the Tournament MVP just minutes later, drove a 3-0 pitch into rightfield to send sophomore JT Smith home from third in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk-it-off for the Patriots. The win secured the first Lone Star Conference Tournament Title for UT Tyler in the program's second year eligible for the field and clinched the automatic bid into next week's NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament.
 
UT Tyler scored three runs in their first two trips to the plate to jump out to an early advantage, but Oklahoma Christian chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the game in the top of the sixth at 3-3. Smith lead off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and then moved over to second on a Sam Schott bunt single that put runners on first and second with no outs.
 
Junior Courtney Plocheck advanced both runners over on a groundout to second in the ensuing at bat. Oklahoma Christian seemingly made the decision to intentionally walk Arias with first base open, but with three consecutive pitches close to the zone, Arias swung on what would have been ball four and drove it to right field.
 
Smith immediately tagged up and scored from third base to ensue the walk-off and LSC Tournament Championship celebration for UT Tyler.
 
Graduate student Shea O'Leary came on in relief of starter Tatum Goff and earned her second win of the tournament with 4.1 innings of work in the circle. Both O'Leary and Goff were recognized as members of the 2023 LSC All-Tournament Team.
 
The fourth Patriot on that All-Tournament Team list Courtney Plocheck went 2-for-4 with an RBI at the plate and provided multiple highlighted defensive putouts to keep the Eagles off the board in the later innings. Plocheck also got the scoring started for the Patriots in a two-run first inning with an RBI single up the middle that scored Smith.
 
Junior Caitlin Wells drew a walk with the bases loaded a few batters later to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead after the first inning of play. Arias helped make it 3-0, putting a ball in play with runners on second and third that was misplayed by Oklahoma Christian to allow Cassidi Mullen to come around to score.
 
Goff was dominant in the circle through the first two innings, but found trouble in the third on a two-out single from Oklahoma Christian's Kristen Whitehouse that scored a pair of runners to cut the Patriot advantage to just 3-2. O'Leary took over for Goff, struckout the third out of the inning, and then faced the minimum in both the fourth and fifth frames.
 
Oklahoma Christian scored another two-out run in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3 before Arias provided her heroics in the bottom of the seventh to walk-off the win for the Patriots.
 
UT Tyler will make a second appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship, and will presumably host one side of the South Central Regional after appearing at no. 1 in each of the first two South Central Regional Rankings. The Patriots will ride a Division II best 31-game winning streak and sport the title of 2023 Lone Star Conference Regular Season and Tournament Champions heading into the tournament.
 
The complete NCAA Division II National Tournament Field will be announced via an online selection show on Monday, Mary 8^th at 9 a.m. CST.