Boxscore

MONROE ? Louisiana-Monroe banged out nine hits to down Louisiana Tech 9-3 Thursday night at Lady Indian Field.

The Lady Indians (16-15) scored two runs in the first, four in the second and three more in the fourth to defeat Tech (7-14) for the second time this season.

?We had a lot of missed opportunities,? said Tech head coach Sarah Dawson. ?We had just as many scoring opportunities at last time we played them (a 13-7 Tech win), and this time we didn?t capitalize. The game of softball is simple; you have to hit, play defense, pitch and keep the ball in the ball park, and we didn?t do any of that.?

Tech led the game off with a solo home run by left fielder Danielle Sheridan to grab a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. However, the Lady Indians answered with a pair of unearned runs in its half of the first frame.

The Lady Techsters tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second on an RBI double by freshman centerfielder Emma Barnes, scoring Krissi Oliver who led the inning off with a walk.

However, Oliver gave up four more runs on three hits and one Tech error in the bottom of the second inning as UL-Monroe took a 6-2 lead.

Junior right fielder Ashley Cameron connected on her sixth home run of the season in the top of the third inning to close the gap to 6-3.

Kristin Rupp came on in relief of Oliver in the third inning and surrendered three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth.

?Both pitchers looked great one inning and then were inconsistent the next inning,? Dawson said. ?That?s been a problem all year for us.?

Oliver (2-5) picked up the loss for Tech, allowing six runs -- three earned -- on five hits ine 2.0 innings of work.

Tech opens Western Athletic Conference play Saturday at home hosting Hawaii in a 2 p.m. doubleheader.