COLUMBUS, Ga. - COLUMBUS, Ga. - A pair of Texas teams dealt defeats to Pacific Lutheran on Sunday as the Lutes wrapped up their participation at the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic with a 3-3 record.
Texas-Tyler and East Texas Baptist, teams familiar to the Lutes, came out winners on Sunday, Tyler beating PLU 5-1, and ETBU following with a 5-3 victory.
Pacific Lutheran, now 8-6 overall, returns to the Pacific Northwest and finally gets to play on its home field next weekend when it hosts the George Fox Bruins in a four-game Northwest Conference series. PLU and George Fox play a pair of doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday, with the first game each day slated to start at noon.
Texas-Tyler 5, PLU 1
Texas-Tyler scored four runs in the top of the second inning to break an early 1-1 tie on the way to a 5-1 win Pacific Lutheran in an early Sunday morning contest.
The game, which started at 8 a.m. local time in Columbus, pitted the two teams that reached the finals of the Tyler Regional during last year's NCAA Division III national tournament. PLU, of course, won that game before garnering the national title a week later in Salem, Va.
This time, however, it was Tyler that came out on top.
The Patriots scored the opening run on Heather Abshire's RBI single in the top of the first, but the Lutes tied it in the bottom of the inning when Kaaren Hatlen's two-out double scored Glenelle Nitta, who reached base on a single.
Texas-Tyler scored its four runs in the second on three walks and three singles.
After that, Abshire shut down the PLU offense, limiting the Lutes to just five hits during the game. She retired the side in order four times and set down 10 consecutive Pacific Lutheran batters during the middle innings.
Nitta led Pacific Lutheran with two hits. Kelsey Robinson took the pitching loss, giving up all five earned runs on five hits in two innings or work.
East Texas Baptist 5, PLU 3
Pacific Lutheran was unable to take advantage of a bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth, and ETBU scored two runs in the bottom of the frame after a two-out error kept the inning.
The Tigers grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning, producing three consecutive run-scoring hits with two outs.
PLU tied it with three of its own in the top of the third to tie the game. Spencer Sherwin led off with a walk, and Haley Harshaw and Montessa Califano followed with bunt base hits. Nitta's single drove in two runs, and Hatlen drove in another with a base hit.
The game remained tied into the sixth when the Lutes loaded the bases with one out, only to hit into a double play.
ETBU's rally, kept alive by PLU's second error of the game, came to fruition when Alyssa Romero hit a single to right field to drive in two runs. Romero ended up with three of the Tigers' 10 hits.
Pacific Lutheran had one last chance in the last inning, loading the bases with two outs, but the game ended on a fly out.
PLU finished with 10 hits, incuding a 3-for-3 performance by Harshaw and two hits apiece for Nitta and Hatlen. Leah Butters took the loss, allowing five runs, three earned, on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
- PLU -
