ABILENE - Junior
Avery Miloch homered for the second time in as many days to give Abilene Christian softball an early lead Saturday in their rubber game with Tarleton, but the Texans struck back in the latter innings to win 14-5 at Poly Wells Field.
The loss dropped the Wildcats to 4-8 in WAC Conference play, while the Tarleton improved to 6-6.
Miloch fared well vs. Tarleton all weekend, batting .500 (4-for-8) and slugging 1.375 (!) on the strength of two round trippers (11) and her eighth double of the spring. She also scored four runs, drove in six, earned three free passes and stole a base.
Miloch today led off the second with a home run to left field off starter Grace Garcia to give ACU a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats then pushed four across in the third in building a 5-2 lead.
Olivia Taylor and
Sammie Shelander each drew one-out walks and Emma Rote followed with a scorching grounder off the first baseman's glove, resulting in a two-run triple. Rote and pinch runner
Isabel Martinez then came home on
Catrin Hoffman's two-run single up the middle.
It was all Texans from there, however. Tarleton went to reliever Tristan Bridges to begin the fourth and she kept ACU off balance by holding the home team to one base hit over the final 4.0 innings to earn the win.
On offense, the Texans awakened with a two-run fifth that cut ACU's lead to 5-4, and in the sixth, they received a two-out grand slam from Katy Schaefer. Tarleton padded their lead further in the seventh with another five spot.
Talia Nielsen started for the Wildcats, providing 6.0 innings of work with two strikeouts, one of which got her out of a fifth-inning jam with runners in scoring position.
The Wildcats return to action Thursday at 3 p.m. vs. No. 22 Baylor. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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