AUSTIN – Huston-Tillotson University's softball team avenged its series-opening loss to Talladega (Ala.) by sweeping a Saturday doubleheader to claim their second series win as a member program of the HBCU Athletic Conference.
The Rams (5-15, 5-1 HBCUAC) won the opening contest 6-4 before winning the series finale 20-12 in a wild, rainy game that also featured a 1 hour, 51 minute delay for lightning in the area.
The Rams have now won five of their first six conference games after joining the HBCU Athletic Conference in time for the 2025-26 academic year. Initially picked seventh in the preseason conference poll ahead of only first-year program Wiley, the Rams have now won two series against teams picked ahead of them; Talladega was picked third in the conference poll.
HT sophomore Marleigh Robinson was the winning pitcher in both of Saturday's contest, improving her season record to 3-5. After only winning one game during a 2025 season that saw the entire team struggle to a 7-27 record, Robinson recorded multiple wins in a season, and in a day, for the first time in her collegiate career.
The Rams make the short trip north to Belton, Texas, on Tuesday to face NCAA program Mary Hardin-Baylor in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.Â
(Relatively short, that is, given the traffic at any time on Interstate Highway-35, especially while parts of it are currently under construction in north Austin!)
GAME ONE: HT Rams 6, Talladega 4
The Rams scored six consecutive runs in the second, third, and fourth innings to give Robinson enough of a lead to secure victory in the morning contest.
Talladega struck first with a three-run homerun from Sophie Harshberger in the top of the second inning. The Rams wasted little time in response as they put runners on base for Alexis Tamez to knock an RBI single, scoring Alayali Alaniz. Alaniz was 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the game.
HT cut the lead to 3-2 on a successful double steal that saw that Aliyah Resendiz take second base, allowing Denae Hernandez to steal home. The Rams then tied the game on Isabella Roblero's hard-hit infield single that scored Makenzie Turner.
The home team took a 4-3 lead in the third inning when Alaniz scored on a wild pitch. In the fourth inning, Madison Stimpson knocked an RBI double to score Alexis Gaona, which was immediate followed by Stimpson scoring on Kieana Cruz' RBI hit.
Robinson tossed a complete-game victory in the opener, allowing only the three earned runs on the second-inning homerun, while striking out two batters. She allowed only one walk and did not throw any wild pitches.
Josie Harshberger, who went 6-for-6 with with five RBIs for Talladega in the opener, knocked a single in the seventh inning that also featured an outfield error that allowed her sister Sophie to score from second base.
GAME TWO: HT Rams 20, Talladega 12 (five innings)
The Rams scored 11 runs in the bottom of the first and led 20-1 after three innings before the visiting Tornados struck back with an 11-run inning of their own in the fourth.
Resendiz' three RBIs led six HT players batting home multiple runs in the game. HT's starting catcher recorded a sacrifice fly in the first and then knocked a two-RBI double during the Rams' seven-run third inning.
Gaona, Roblero, Stimpson, Cruz, and Hernandez knocked two RBIs apiece. Gaona scored four runs, while Stimpson crossed the plate three times.Â
Stimpson also had the most unusual hitting line of the game, as she was not charged with an official at-bat. She drew three walks – two in the first inning alone – and knocked a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
Robinson pitched three and one-third innings to earn the win. She scattered only five hits, but also walked five and was charged for eight earned runs, seven during Talladega's comeback attempt in the fourth inning.
Tamez and an actual weather phenomenon both deserve credit for shutting down the team named for a weather phenomenon. Tamez relieved Holder in the top of the fourth with the bases loaded and one out, and after Talladega had already plated 11 runs in the frame.Â
A junior transfer from Brownsville, Texas, and Alvin Community College, Tamez got a big second out by striking out Seminole McShan on a swinging strike with a 3-2 count. She then got Yasmin Harmon, who had hit a grand slam for Talladega earlier in the inning, to pop up on a 0-2 count and end the Tornado rally. Harmon also had a home run and six RBIs in the opener, giving her 10 for the series.
With two on base and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, lightning halted play in for nearly two hours. The teams had played most of the game in intermittent rain until that point.
When the teams returned a 3:11 p.m. to sunnier conditions, Talladega immediate stopped the HT rally. However, the delay may have also cooled Talladega's bats, as Tamez got a flyout, then walked a batter, and then got a popup double-play to end the game with HT's eight-run lead still intact.
Tamez could not be credited with a save, as she entered the game with an eight-run lead, meaning the tying run was not in the on-deck circle. But if there was ever an occasion when HT sports information director and softball scoring rules expert Alan Wiederhold could have given a save, Tamez' performance in Saturday's finale would be such an occasion.Â
If Talladega had scored one more run in the fourth or fifth innings, the Tornados would have forced HT to bat in the bottom of the fifth. If the Rams then did not stretch their lead back to eight runs, the game would have gone to the sixth inning, and Robinson's three and one-third innings would not have been enough to qualify for the win.
Tamez did indeed save Robinson's win and kept an unusually temperamental sports information director from having to spend any more time in the rain protecting electronic equipment.
– HT –
