RUSTON – Louisiana Tech softball defeated UTEP, 8-0, in five innings to complete a sweep of the Miners on Senior Day Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs moved their winning streak to seven games, securing back-to-back Conference USA series sweeps to close the regular season at 29-23 (15-12 CUSA).
The Bulldogs outhit the Miners 8-3, doing most of their damage in the bottom of the third with seven runs on six hits. Gracie Flores led LA Tech with three hits and two RBI while Allie Furr added two hits and two RBI.
Alannah Rogers, Rosalie Dufresne and Elena Heng added hits in the win, while Dufresne, Bradi Gallaway and Reagan Marchant added one RBI each.
Allie Floyd (11-14) earned the win in the circle. The senior allowed three hits and struck out one in 4.1 innings of action. Bryannah Campos got the final two outs and allowed one walk while striking out one.
Floyd worked around an early double in the first before the Bulldogs left two on after Flores singled and Gallaway walked. Tech left one more stranded in the bottom of the second before breaking the game open with seven runs in the third.
Furr singled to start the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored a double to left center from Flores. Gallaway drew a walk followed by a bunt single from Rogers to load the bases. Marchant registered a sacrifice fly to right that scored Flores to make it 2-0 while Gallaway advanced to third.
Rogers was able to steal second and advance to third while Gallaway came around on a throwing error to make it 3-0 Tech. Dufresne scored Rogers on a double to left center to make it 4-0, followed by walks to Jina Baffuto and Heng to load the bases.
Furr capitalized with a bloop single to shallow left center that brought home Baffuto and Dufresne to make it 6-0 LA Tech. Flores added the final run of the inning with a single through the right side that scored Heng.
After a scoreless fourth inning that featured one final home curtain call for Allie Floyd, Tech loaded the bases in the fifth and pushed across the eighth run to secure the run-rule victory. Heng led off with a bunt single and advanced to second on a fielding error that allowed Furr to reach safely. Flores then drew a walk to load the bases before Gallaway lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Heng and ending the game.
NOTABLES
- Josh Taylor moves to 164-114 as head coach at LA Tech.
- LA Tech moves to 31-17 against UTEP all time.
- Gracie Flores now has an 18-game hitting streak.
- LA Tech has now swept three CUSA series this season.
- Allie Floyd won her 11th game of the season and her second of the series.
- Allie Furr and Gracie Flores registered multiple hits. It marked the 17th multi-hit game for Furr and the 11th for Flores.
NEXT UP
LA Tech will now get ready for the CUSA tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday in Newark, Del.
