SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity softball team completed a doubleheader sweep of LeTourneau University on Thursday afternoon, winning 7-3 and 3-2.

The Tigers improved to 13-7 this season with the wins, while the YellowJackets fell to 7-8 by the end of the day. Trinity scored in almost every inning of the opening game, then scored each of the first three innings of game two before holding on for the narrow win to finish off the sweep.

 Jordan Arce (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Thousand Oaks) took the win in the first game and improved to 7-3 this season. She struck out 10 batters over 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. Josephine Koelewyn (Reno, Nev. / Academy of Arts Careers and Technology) came on and got a strikeout to finish the game and collect her first save. Cameron Bishop (Austin, Texas / Austin) allowed just one run on one hit over the first five innings of game two, earning the win to improve to 5-1 on the year. Megan Kriechbaum (Cedar Hills, Utah / Pleasant Grove) also picked up her first career save, finishing out the final two innings of the game.

Trinity finished game two with 10 hits, as Ella Whitacre (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson), Samantha Tagawa (Agoura Hills, Calif. / Agoura Hills), and Sydney Watson (San Antonio, Texas / San Antonio Christian) collected two hits each in the game. Watson and Whitacre also scored two of the team's three runs. Hannah Boudreaux (Pearland, Texas / Shadow Creek) was the only Trinity player with two hits in the opener, going 2-for-3 with a walk. Tagawa reached four times in the game, drawing three walks to go with a double. Arce and Watson scored two runs each in the game, while Jordyn Williams (Clayton, Calif. / Clayton Valley Charter) picked up two RBI.

The Rundown, Game 1

Arce gave up a leadoff walk to start game one, but she struck out the final two batters with a runner on third to keep LeTourneau off the board. That gave the Tiger offense the chance to take the lead and they did just that with a two-run inning. Tagawa opened with her first walk of the day, then stole second and moved to third on an error. Hayden Del Toro (Cypress, Texas / Cy Woods) drove her home on a ground out to give Trinity a 1-0 lead after just two hitters. Arce reached on an error to keep the inning alive, then stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. That set up Williams for an RBI single to make it 2-0 after the first frame.

LeTourneau put together a couple of hits in the second inning, then scored on a delayed steal with runners on the corners to make it 2-1. Tagawa got the run right back for the Tigers, though, doubling home a run to make it a two-run lead once again. Watson reached on a one-out single, then stole second before coming in on Tagawa's two-out hit.

Neither team scored in the third, which turned out to be the only inning that Trinity's offense came up short in the game. Watson drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the fourth, then stole second once again to get into scoring position. This time it was Angela Baltzell (Antioch, Calif. / Freedom) who drove her in, making it a 4-1 lead for the Tigers.

Arce pitched around a couple of hits in the fifth inning to keep LeTourneau to just one run at the time, and the Tiger bats were there again to pile on the runs in the bottom half. Boudreaux singled to lead off the inning, then Whitacre pinch-ran and stole second. Arce got a bunt single after beating out a sacrifice attempt, then stole second as well to give Williams a look at two runners in scoring position. She delivered a line drive to right that moved up both runners. Peyton Bowser (Arvada, Colo. / West) drove in Arce with her line drive to left and Trinity took a 6-1 lead into the sixth.

LeTourneau got a single and a double to start the sixth inning, then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-2. Arce locked in from there, though, striking out the side to shut the door and limit the damage to just one run. Baltzell and Tagawa picked up back-to-back walks with one out in the bottom half, then Boudreaux got an infield single. Instead of stopping at third, though, Baltzell continued on to score before the defense knew what had happened.

Arce got the first two batters out in the seventh, but ran into trouble after that after issuing a walk. That led to a steal, a wild pitch, and an RBI single to make it 7-3. Arce then walked the next two batters to bring the tying run to the plate, bringing in Koelewyn for the save situation. Koelewyn got a strikeout looking to end the game and squash the final-inning rally.

The Rundown, Game 2

LeTourneau stole a run in the top of the first, taking a two-out walk with a runner on third, and then getting into a rundown just long enough to take the early lead. The Tigers scored on an error in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Watson got a one-out hit and then stole second to set up the scoring play.

Bishop began mowing down the LeTourneau hitters from there, retiring the next nine batters in a row as Trinity extended the lead to 3-1. The scoring began with Whitacre getting a leadoff single in the second inning, then stealing second and moving to third on a sac bunt. Baltzell came up clutch once again with an RBI single to put Trinity in front. Boudreaux singled with one out to kickstart the third inning. She moved to third on a wild pitch and a ground out, then scored as Bowser smashed a two-out RBI single to left.

Trinity missed a chance at more runs in the fourth, leaving a pair of runners on base after Tagawa and Watson both reached with two outs. Bishop gave up a walk to break up her streak of nine straight batters retired, then promptly began another streak by getting three straight groundouts to end the fifth inning. The Tigers once again had a chance to add to the lead in the bottom of the inning, but stranded two more runners on base to keep it a 3-1 game.

LeTourneau put runners on the corners with no outs to welcome Kriechbaum to the game, then executed a double steal to make it 3-2. A ground ball out put the tying run at third, but the Tiger defense got an inning-ending double play to end the threat and keep the lead. Tagawa singled and stole second to start the Trinity sixth, but was eventually thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Kriechbaum snagged a line drive on the first pitch of the seventh to get the first out, but LeTourneau singled to put the tying run on base. Kriechbaum induced a ground ball to short for the second out, then forced a lazy fly ball to center to end the game and earn the save.

Up Next

The Tigers will host La Roche University (PA) in another doubleheader tomorrow. Game one has been moved up to a 10:00 a.m. start instead of Noon.