Tiger Softball Pushes 7/9 Texas but Falls, 4-0

#7/9 Texas Scores Late to Defeat Memphis 4-0

Tigers Face North Texas at 6:30 pm

AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Memphis softball team (1-2) held No. 7/9 Texas scoreless through four innings, but a three-run fifth inning hurt the Tigers in a 4-0 loss Saturday afternoon.

Junior pitcher Ellen Roberts (0-2) suffered her second loss in her best outing of the young season. The Australian native struck out five and allowed three earned runs in six innings of work.

Texas had come into the game 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts, but Memphis junior catcher Amber Lindahl kept the Longhorns on their heels. Lindahl threw out two of three steal attempts and has thrown out 5-of-7 attempts in three games this season. She is one away from tying the school career record set by Kimmi Hayden (2006-08) with 30 after setting the single season record last year with 21.

Ijiah Hargrove led Memphis at the plate with a 2-for-2 performance in her first appearance of the season. It is her fifth career multi-hit game. Lelani Bernardino was the only other Tiger to record a hit off Texas's Gabby Smith.

Smith (1-0) threw her first career complete game shutout in her first appearance in the circle this season. She allowed no runs on three hits with one strikeout and one walk.

Taylor Thom and Stephanie Ceo both had a pair of hits for the Longhorns. Ceo also had two runs scored.

Bernardino got the Tigers off to a good start by laying down a bunt single to begin the game. Bernardino then advanced to second on a groundout by Laura Curtis, but an infield hit at third base from Kelly Braman resulted in Bernardino being tagged out to end the inning.

In the second, Thom got a leadoff double to right center to get the Longhorns going. She then advanced to second on a groundout, but would be held there as Texas could not put together another hit.

Both teams put runners on in the third as Hargrove hit a one-out single to left field before Bernardino reached base on a fielder's choice. Morgan Mosby followed with a walk to move Bernardino over, but a groundout by the Tigers ended their chance to get a run.

In the bottom half, Ceo reached first on a Memphis fielding error to lead off for the Longhorns. Lindahl caught Ceo stealing second while Roberts struck out two more batters to help the Tigers escape the inning.

Texas finally broke through and got on the board in the fifth as Ceo led off with an infield single followed by a bunt from Taylor Hoagland to put runners on first and second with no outs. Roberts got her fifth strikeout of the game before Karina Scott singled down the right side to bring home Ceo for a 1-0 Texas lead.

With two outs, the Longhorns tacked on another run with a single from Thom to score Hoagland from third. Texas continued to open up its lead as Scott scored off Memphis' fourth error of the game to make it 3-0 Texas after five innings of play.

The Longhorns added a run in the sixth inning on a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Marlee Gabaldon to score Leo and make it a 4-0 game.

Memphis will next play North Texas at 6:30 p.m. tonight in a rematch of the season opener. The Tigers lost to the Mean Green 6-2 on Friday. The winner of the game will play the winner of a game between Texas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at noon on Sunday. The loser of both games will play at 9 a.m.