PINEVILLE, La. –
Ashley Hallmark and
Summer Harper both hit home runs and the Concordia Texas softball team rallied late in back-to-back games on Friday to complete the doubleheader sweep of Louisiana College at Wildcat Park.
In game one, facing a one-run deficit, the Tornados exploded for six runs in the fifth inning and never looked back, running away with a 7-1 win.
After a quiet first three frames, where each team was held scoreless, LC would push across a run in the fourth to take an early 1-0 lead.
In the fifth, CTX would counter with six runs, to go up 6-1.
Kayla Patton led off the frame with a double to left center. After an
Olivia Kaase sac bunt, Patton would score on
Ashley Hallmark's fielder's choice to tie the game at 1-1. After a Wildcats error allowed
Mycahla Howard to reach, Brianna Heredia doubled the Tornados' lead with an RBI single to left.
One out later,
Payton Walker and Anisaa Garcia would single home a run to make it 4-1.
Summer Harper would break the game open with a two-run single to center to give the Tornados a 6-1 lead.
After Harper's single, game play would come to a halt for nearly an hour due to lightning in the area.
The delay did not stop CTX once play resumed though, as Hallmark went deep in the sixth for her first home run as a Tornado to push the lead to 7-1.
Heather Casiano, who had only allowed the lone run in the fourth, would work around a two-out single in the seventh to close out the game and pick up her seventh win of the season.
In the second game of the night, facing a three-run deficit, the Tornados would score five runs in their final at-bat, coming from to win it 6-4.
Concordia Texas would fall behind early after the Wildcats scored a pair of runs in the first.
Harper would get the Tornados on the board in the second inning, launching a solo shot over the left field wall to cut the deficit in half. It is the second home run of the season for Harper.
Louisiana College would tack on a run in bottom half of the inning and in the fourth and would hold a 4-1 lead until the seventh.
In the seventh, the Tornados would come alive as they batted around to score five runs in the inning.
With one away, Heredia would take advantage of a pair of Wildcat errors to wind up at third. She would come around to score on
Haley Dennett's RBI ground out to cut it to 4-2.
The next three batters would reach on walks. After a passed ball scored the second run of the inning,
Kayla Patton would tie it at four-all with an RBI single to right. Kaase would work a walk to load the bases for Hallmark.
Hallmark would reach on a hit by a pitch, giving CTX their first lead of the game and Howard would follow with a walk to make it 6-4 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Simone Langland, who came on in relief in the fifth, would retire LC in order to complete the comeback for the Tornados and picked up her third win of the year.
The Tornados will go for the sweep of the Wildcats on Saturday with a 10 a.m. start in Pineville, La.
