ALEXANDRIA, La. – LSU-Alexandria pitching shut down the hot bats being swung by Texas A&M University-Texarkana Monday at the Red River Athletic Conference Softball tournament.
The Eagles entered Monday’s competition needing one win to claim the championship, but it wasn’t to be. LSU-Alexandria (33-14) defeated TAMU-T, 7-1 to force another game, which the Eagles lost, 3-1.
Texarkana senior Cassie Vasquez was the winning pitcher in the Eagles’ two tournament wins, and was the loser in both games Monday. She started the opener, going 3.1 innings and yielding five runs. The crafty right-hander went the distance in the finale, scattering seven hits in six innings.
The day had a promising start when Kaey Maines singled, and eventually scored on an LSU-A error.
That was it offensively for the Eagles. Winning pitcher McKell Marble and reliever Ryleigh Rutherford allowed only one hit in the final six innings. Hanna Cooper doubled in the fifth, but never got as far as third.
Daniel leads LSU-Alexandria at the plate
Emily Daniel and Lauren Rachal had seven of LSU-A’s 11 hits. Daniel was 4-4 with two RBI. Rachal drove in one run and scored another.
Haylee Tidwell’s two-run single in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie in the second game.
The Eagles made it 2-1 in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Cooper. Alexandria answered with a run in its half of the inning.
Abbey McMillan started in the circle and was the winning pitcher, with late relief from Rutherford.
Cooper and Jaden Lance led Texarkana at the plate with two hits each. Lance finished the year as the RRAC’s batting champion with a .456 average. Lauren Bierschenk had a single.
The Eagles finished the 2019 season with a 25-14 record. They were second in the RRAC regular season standings in addition to finishing second in the tournament.
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