TYLER, TEXAS – #4 UT Tyler won both outings on Friday afternoon by 7-3 and 4-2 final scores over Lubbock Christian.
 
The wins extend the UT Tyler winning streak to 18 straight and keep the Patriots in the hunt for the Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship and no. 1 overall seed in the 2024 Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament. Senior Courtney Plocheck started Senior Weekend off with a big day at the plate going 3-for-3 in game one and adding a pair of doubles in game two.
 
Starting pitchers Christin Haygood and Genesis Armendariz were once again rock solid in the circle for UT Tyler. Armendariz shined in game two with a complete game effort.
 
UT Tyler moved to 45-7 overall and remained a game back of West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference standings with a league record of 36-5.
 
Game One
 
A pair of extra-base hits from Plocheck helped pave the way to a 7-3 victory for the Patriots in game one.
 
Home runs from Plocheck and Zapata in the bottom of the sixth extended a 3-0 lead to 7-0 through six innings of play. Haygood allowed just two hits through her first six innings of action before a three-run homer by the Lady Chaps in the top of the seventh brought the score to it's 7-3 final.
 
Plocheck and freshman Makayla Garcia notched RBI doubles in the first and third innings to give UT Tyler a 2-0 lead up to that point. Haygood scattered singles in the first and second inning and then worked through perfect third, fourth and fifth frames.
 
Senior Cassidi Mullen drove in JT Smith on an RBI single in the fifth to make it 3-0 before the pair of homers from Plocheck and Zapata ran the Patriot run total to seven. Plocheck's solo shot came in leadoff fashion and Zapata's blast a three-run homer that scored Smith and Garcia.
 
Plocheck's 3-for-3 day featured a single, double and homer, and a pair of runs scored and RBI. The senior was the lone Patriot to record a multi-hit outing.
 
Haygood moved to 12-0 on the year with 6.1 innings of work. She allowed three earned runs on the homer, but was otherwise outstanding with five strikeouts.
 
Freshman Crimson Bryant notched the final two outs of the game in the seventh via strikeouts.
 
Game Two
 
Armendariz went the complete seven innings in a 4-2 game two victory.
 
The Hobbs, N.M. native allowed two runs, just one of which was earned, despite conceding eight hits in the ball game. Plocheck tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single in the third and then hit a sac fly in the fifth to go for a pair of RBI in the afternoon finale.
 
Lubbock Christian scored an unearned run in the top of the first and held that 1-0 advantage through two complete. The Patriots capitalized on a dropped routine foul ball in the bottom of the third, tying the game on Plocheck's RBI single and then took the lead on a bases-clearing double by Smith that scored Plocheck and sophomore Nicole Price.
 
That made it 3-1 in favor of the Patriots, a margin that was ensured in the top of the fourth by Smith, who threw a perfect ball from center on a single up the middle that retired the third out of the inning at home. Armendariz kept the Lady Chaps off the board once again in their next trip to the plate in the fifth, stranding runners on second and third with one out.
 
Plocheck scored the fourth unanswered Patriot run in the bottom half of the frame to make it 4-1 on her sac fly.
 
Lubbock Christian finally pushed a run across after a leadoff double in the top of the sixth, but couldn't manage anything else against Armendariz from that point forward. Armendariz moved to 15-5 with the win, striking out five Lady Chaps while conceding just a single walk.
 
Price, Plocheck and Smith managed all four of the UT Tyler hits in the game in the heart of the UT Tyler lineup. Price went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored while Plocheck and Smith each drove in a pair of runs.
 
Up Next
 
UT Tyler will close out the regular season tomorrow afternoon with the series finale against Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. UT Tyler softball will recognize six seniors in Michelle Arias, Courtney Plocheck, Cassidi Mullen, Audrey Escamilla, Genesis Armendariz and Tara Stewart pregame.