AUSTIN – Huston-Tillotson University's softball team completed a three-game series sweep to open HBCU Athletic Conference play Sunday as the Rams needed only four and a half innings to shut out Voorhees (S.C.) by a score of 9-0.
Junior pitcher Alexis Tamez struck out seven Voorhees hitters and gave up only two hits – both in the third inning – to earn the complete-game victory. She only needed to throw 45 pitches in her Sunday performance.
As they did in their two previous games Saturday, the Rams used a big inning to pull away from the visiting Tigers and give their pitcher a comfortable margin. HT plated six runs in the bottom of the third inning to stretch the advantage to 8-0; freshman Kieana Cruz hit a two-run homerun in the third, which was later followed by an RBI triple from Denae Hernandez.
Alayali Alaniz capped the scoring with a solo homerun in the bottom of the fourth; she also scored thrice in Sunday's game.
Isabella Roblero knocked a double and a single in the game for the Rams, while Hernandez went 3-for-3 at the plate. A junior transfer from Raymondville, Texas, and Lamar State–Port Arthur who sat out last season with an injury, Hernandez went 7-for-8 at the plate against Voorhees this weekend.
The Rams (3-14) started conference play 3-0 for the first time since the 2018 season, when HT swept a three-game series at home from Texas A&M–Victoria, then known as the University of Houston at Victoria. The sweep of Voorhees (0-11, 0-3 HBCUAC) also gave the Rams their first three-game win streak since 2022.
Meanwhile, the shutout win was also the first for the Rams since 2022, when they shut out Texas A&M–Texarkana 8-0 in April of that season. It also marked the first time since 2022 that the Rams won at least three games over one team in a season, when HT took three out of four from Southwest (N.M.).
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UP NEXT:
The Rams return to action Friday, March 6, when they open a three-game HBCU Athletic Conference series at home against Talladega (Ala.) at Mabson Field on 12th Street in east Austin. First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m.
The game times for this weekend's series have been adjusted in anticipation of rain that will arrive in Central Texas later this week. HT and Talladega are scheduled to begin their Saturday, March 7 doubleheader at 10 a.m.
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