SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University Softball won its second Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series of the season Sunday afternoon, taking out Centenary College 5-4 for the series' third one-run margin in as many games.
The Tigers (7-21 ; 4-5 SCAC) finished the series two games to one, with junior pitcher
Brooke Porter (Carmel, Ind. / Heritage Christian) collecting both victories in the circle as she logged her first start since 2021 in Sunday's outing.
Junior newcomer
Bella Gutierrez (Devine, Texas / Devine) collected her first save at Trinity with five clean outs.
Junior designated player
Dawson Dabboussi (Dallas, Texas / Highland Park) and sophomore catcher
Jessie Lloyd (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Trabuco Hills) each picked up a multi-hit game, led by Dabboussi's two-for-two line that included a hit-by-pitch for a third appearance on the basepaths as each notched a run scored and a RBI.
Trinity Softball heads out to Houston next weekend for the next SCAC series, visiting SCAC co-leader University of St. Thomas for a three-game set April 7-8.
The Rundown
A theme for the weekend, five of Sunday's nine combined runs came in the first six outs as Centenary scratched two across on Porter, though the first hits for both Lloyd and Dabboussi were registered in the inning, separated by a six-pitch walk for first-year outfielder
Hayden Del Toro (Cypress, Texas / Cy Woods).
Between the first runs scored for Lloyd and Dabboussi, Del Toro executed a delayed double-steal with Dabbousi for the second run in the inning. A drive through the right side from junior first baseman
Jordyn Williams (Clayton, Calif. / Valley Charter) took the lead for the Tigers, 3-2.
Porter proceeded to get to work, posting four straight shutout innings to just three scattered hits. Meanwhile, the Tiger bats provided some space with a two-run fourth frame. First-year leftfielder
Jordan Arce (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Thousand Oaks) and sophomore second baseman
Alexa Saucedo (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen) got on-base back-to-back with two outs in the inning, flipping the lineup card back to Lloyd. Arce scored on the error that put Saucedo on, then Lloyd added her RBI for the day, 5-2 Trinity.
Three straight one-out hits—scoring two runs—against Porter gave her the hook in the sixth for Gutierrez who battled through a seven-pitch at-bat from Brooke Sandefur to force an inning-ending double play. Gutierrez would finish with a three-up, three down seventh to log more outs (5) than batters faced (4) in her first save of the season.
Due Up: at St. Thomas (April 7-8), Six-Game Homestand (April 14-22)
Trinity Softball will take on the current co-leaders of the SCAC over the next two weekends with a visit to St. Thomas (20-6; 8-1 SCAC) April 7-8, followed by No. 4 Texas Lutheran University (24-3; 8-1 SCAC) the first of back-to-back home conference series for the Tigers before the end of the month.
Trinity is tasked with host responsibilities for the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship May 5-7, featuring the top six squads from the conference regular season.
