Victoria, Texas - On a blustery day in East Texas, the UBC women's softball season came to close losing 4-1 to LSU Alexandria as they were officially eliminated from the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) conference tournament. The Thunderbirds finished the year 25-21.
A three run first inning for the Generals was the difference in this game. Leigh Della Siega got the start and would walk the first two hitters she saw. The next hitter bunted right to Della Siega, but she would overthrow first base allowing a run to score. The defensive struggles continued as Cassandra Dypchey had trouble judging the wind and dropped a pop fly to load the bases. Amanda Harmon they hit a two run single to centre field to make it 3-0 for LSU Alexandria. That would spell the end of the day for Della Siega. Alana Westerhof replaced her on the mound and preceded to struck out the side to get the 'Birds out of the jam. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the Generals led 3-0.
"It was unfortunate we had a bad start and made those two errors and that cost us the runs and after that we couldn't recover," said head coach Phil Thom.
LSU Alexandria would add another run in the second inning to make it 4-0, but that is all they would get. Westerhof allowed just two hits and one earned run, while striking out five in six innings of work.
The 'Birds bats which had come alive on Thursday, in a pair of wins, once again went silent as UBC was unable to generate any offence. They did have their chances. In the bottom of the second inning they had the bases loaded with one out, but a strike out and ground out ended the opportunity to score.
In seventh inning UBC loaded the bases again with one out. This time Carlyn Shimizu would drive a run in on a fielder's choice. However, the next hitter, Brittany Meyer, would ground out to end the game. 4-3 was the final.
"We had the runners on but couldn't get the key hit when we needed it," said Thom. "They gave us a crack at it in the seventh and all we needed was just one hit to make it interesting, but it didn't quite happen. It was really surprising considering how well we hit yesterday. Their pitcher today wasn't overwhelming, but we just couldn't seem to find the holes and give credit to them they played a great defensive game."
LSU Alexandria moves on to the AII Championship final against the University of Houston-Victoria.
UBC managed just four hits in the game. Full credit to LSU Alexandria pitcher Logan Hebert and the solid defence behind here. Hebert pitched the complete game striking out two and walking three.
With the loss, the Thunderbirds season comes to a close. In the program's fourth year, the team took major strides towards being a contender and finishing with a record of 25-21. It was also the final game for seniors Brittany Meyer, Nicole Day, Molly Gosnell, Alana Westerhof, Lindsay McElroy, Carlyn Shimizu, and Tayla Westgard.
"I'm disappointed in today's results, but i'm not disappointed in the season overall," said Thom. "The girls played really well, making big improvements over last year, winning close games and defeating a number of ranked teams in the NAIA. Hopefully we will continue to take another positive step next season."
