ARLINGTON, Texas - The luck of the Irish was on the side of Abilene Christian softball St. Patrick's Day as the Wildcats got a giant 6.2-inning effort from junior
Julia Montoya and a two-run single from
Holly Neese as part of a four-run fourth to silence the UT Arlington Mavericks, 7-6, at Allan Saxe Field.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Wildcats, raising their season record to 5-18, while the Mavs fell to 14-14.
With ACU senior pitcher
Emily Seidel at 106.0 innings and an important three-game Southland Conference series against Central Arkansas on the horizon, head coach
Bobby Reeves elected to give Montoya her sixth start of the season. And while her final stat line of six runs, five earned on seven hits and seven walks wasn't exactly pretty, she pitched effective enough down the stretch before turning things over to Seidel for the game's final out.
"It was good to see Julia put up zeroes from the third through sixth innings," said Reeves. "She threw very well and gave us the chance to battle back and win. The whole team played with a lot of intensity and heart. The defense was great too with no errors."
ACU was down four runs after the first and behind 5-1 after two frames, but the Wildcats clawed their way back in the fourth and were ahead 7-5 entering the last half of the seventh.
Montoya began her final inning of work getting Nina Villanueva to line out to second on a 3-2 pitch before walking Shelbi Sikes in an eight-pitch at-bat. Sikes' pinch runner Marisa Datko would advance to second on a passed ball.
Montoya again went to a full count vs. Meagan Michele before inducing a fly ball to left, but the next batter - Mya Anderson - made it a one-run game on a RBI single as Datko raced home from second base.
Reeves called in Seidel from the bullpen with the go-ahead run at the plate and the senior responded to the challenge by having Rebecca Stokes fly out to right on the first pitch. The save was Seidel's first of the season and Montoya improved to 2-3.
Stokes had base hits in two previous at-bats and was responsible for two of the Mavs' four first-inning runs, finishing the game 2-of-4.
After that rocky opening frame, the Wildcats got one back in the second when a double play ball with the bases loaded scored
Alyson Bishoff, who reached on an error by the shortstop.
The Mavs countered that run with one of their own in the second, picking up a leadoff solo home run from Kacey Everett.
But the Wildcats would score the next five runs.
Taylor Brown made it a 5-2 game in the third, scoring on a
Peyton Hedrick single up the middle, and in the fourth the Wildcats batted around with two outs, collecting a pair of run-scoring hits from Brown and Neese.
Brown's single cut the Mavs' lead to 5-3.
Kristin Watkins followed with the Wildcats' third-straight hit to load the bases and on the next play she beat the throw to second base, allowing
Demi McNulty to score on Hedrick's fielder's choice. Neese capped the rally with the go-ahead single down the left field line that brought home Brown and Watkins.
ACU scored the eventual game-winning run in the sixth after Hedrick - who led off with a double - scored on Bishoff's single to left.
Hedrick and Brown each finished with two hits. Hedrick was 2-of-3 with a run, RBI and stolen base. Brown was 2-of-5 with two runs and a RBI.
Sam Montes started and finished the game for the Mavs, but the loss went to reliever Kayla Donaldson who was responsible for all the damage in the fourth. The two hurlers combined for four strikeouts, while Montoya only had one.
The Wildcats and Bears will play a doubleheader Friday at 4 p.m. at ACU's Poly Wells Field and a single game Saturday at 12 p.m.
