Ruston ? Two hard fought loses were all Tech (7-23) could muster as Sam Houston State University (14-15) squeaked out 2-1 and 3-1 victories over Tech Friday night at the Lady Techster Softball Complex.

?We hit the ball really well tonight,? head coach Sarah Dawson said. ?I thought Sam Houston played exceptional defense. We hit some balls hard and they made the plays.?

In the doubleheader opener, with Tech down 2-0 in the bottom of the last frame, third baseman Bridget Broadnax connected on a homerun that sailed over the left field fence, cutting the score in half.

But with two outs and nobody one the Lady Techsters failed to score again,
dropping the game by a 2-1 margin.

Senior Marla Pinkston (4-9) picked up the loss throwing a complete seven innings with four strikeouts. The Texas native allowed two runs with six hits and zero walks.

In game two both Sam Houston State and Tech fought a scoreless tie through four innings before Tech scored first in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Second baseman Mary Cohn opened up the inning with a double to right field before eventually scoring to give Tech a one run lead.

Left fielder Brittany Stanley picked the RBI with a single.

The lead was short lived as Sam Houston State pushed across runs in the sixth and seventh innings to secure their second victory of the day with a final score of 3-1.

Kristin Rupp (3-11) picked up the loss giving up three runs in 6.1 innings while striking out two.

?(Rupp) has been battling an injury the past week and she made one bad pitch that ended going for a homerun,? Dawson said. ?That is the type of team Sam
Houston is, they take advantage of what you give them.?

Tech returns to action next Wednesday when it hosts Northwestern State for a 5 p.m. doubleheader.