LUBBOCK - Abilene Christian softball dropped an 8-0 decision to Texas Tech in six innings Wednesday night at Rocky Johnson Field.
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The Red Raiders have now won 11 of their last 12 games and head to Austin this weekend to battle the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns, while the Wildcats come home for a WAC series vs. Southern Utah. Game times are 2 p.m. (DH) and noon at Poly Wells Field.
ACU's Riley White went the distance on 105 pitches with three strikeouts, including two of right fielder Carson Armijo. She additionally punched out catcher Kailey Wyckoff as part of a scoreless first, which also included catcher Avery Miloch gunning Makinzy Herzog out at second base.
White went on to strand a runner at second in the second, and was an out away from escaping the third when No. 3 batter Arriana Villa blasted an opposite field shot to left field. Villa later drove home the game-clinching run on her fielder's choice to first base.
White began the third with two outs on four pitches, getting Demi Elder on a grounder to short and and Herzog on a comebacker. Wyckoff, however, kept the inning alive for Villa with a soft popper up the middle.
The Red Raiders tacked another run on in the fourth, and pushed their lead to 5-0 in the fifth thanks to Ellie Bailey's two-out, two-run homer. Bailey - who has homered in six of her last seven games - currently leads the Red Raiders with 11 round-trippers.
Texas Tech has 57 home runs as a team his season, which are nine shy of its single-season record.
The Red Raiders ended the game thanks to four-consecutive one-out hits in the sixth. White started the frame striking out Armijo, but three-straight singles made it a 6-0 score, and then Wyckoff doubled home Elder (7-0) and advanced Riley Love to third base.
Love was running on contact on Villa's ground ball to first baseman Sammie Shelander, and safely slid behind the tag of Miloch.
ACU recorded bases hits in all but two innings, and was robbed defensively on several occasions.
Catrin Hoffman and Shelander took turns being fleeced by left fielder Peyton Blythe, while Olivia Taylor saw her at-bat ended prematurely by Armijo, who made a running basket catch in the right field foul territory.
On the base paths, Gaspar was thrown out at third base, trying to advance an extra base on the sacrifice hit by Bubba Rote.
Gaspar led her side with two base hits and turned an unassisted double play at shortstop to get ACU out of the fourth inning. Taylor, Hoffman and Mckenley Clark all registered singles as well.
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