AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Softball team, behind Kayla Patton's grand slam, rallied from five runs down to defeat Howard Payne 9-6 for the series win on Friday.

After three frames, the Tornados trailed 6-1. They would scratch across a run in the fourth on Kayla Patton's sac fly to left to cut it to 6-2.

Batting in the fifth, with two outs already, Emma Martino would get hit by the pitch to continue the inning. After a Martino steal, Olivia Kaase would bring her home on an RBI single to left and advanced to third on a Yellow Jackets error. Kaase would score on the next at-bat as Alyssa Strother singled to the left side to make it 6-4.

The Tornados would load the bases then for Patton, who drove a ball to right-center and fell in between the HPU outfielders, going all the way to the wall. Patton raced around the bases and scored standing up for an inside-the-park grand slam and gave CTX the lead at 8-6.

The Tornados added an insurance run in the sixth on a Summer Harper RBI single. The run support was enough for Shelby Burrus, who shut down the Yellow Jackets after the third inning, allowing only one hit and a walk as she got the complete game shutout.

Next up, CTX will host University of the Ozarks for their final series of the regular season, beginning on Friday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m.