Texas Woman’s University swept the Wildcat softball team in its opening LSC conference series. The sweep drops the Wildcats to 0-3 in conference and 9-16 overall.

I think we got comfortable with the lead we had, and our bullpen struggled late in the game,” said Head Coach Chantiel Wilson. “We did not play through all seven innings, and we need to learn how to close out a game.”

In Sunday’s game, the Pioneers jumped ahead of the Wildcats early, scoring three runs on five hits in the first inning. ACU got one back in the bottom of the inning to make the score 3-1, but TWU added three runs in the third and two more in the fifth. A home run clinched the game for the Pioneers as they cruised to a 9-1 victory.

In the first game of the doubleheader Monday, the Wildcats found their bats early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. They added a run in the third to make the score 4-1, a score they maintained for three innings. In the top of the fourth, though, the Pioneers got back two runs, cutting the deficit to 4-3. The Wildcats answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning and then another run in the fifth, bringing the score to 8-3. TWU retaliated with three runs in the sixth and then again in the seventh to come from behind and win 9-8.

In the second game, the Pioneers leapt to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Wildcats came back when Brianna Fowlkes hit a solo home run in the second inning. The Wildcats were able to tie the game when Stephanie Tingle hit an RBI single to score Shawna Barrow. The game remained tied until the seventh inning when Billie Callahan hit a triple-scoring run; Callahan was then bunted in on the next at-bat. The Pioneers held on at 4-2 to complete the sweep.

The Wildcats will be back in action this weekend in the LSC Crossover Tournament in Durant, Okla., where they will play Southeastern Oklahoma, Cameron, East Central, Central Oklahoma, Northeastern State and Midwestern State. The games will start at 10:30 a.m. Friday and continue throughout the weekend.

“We haven’t been playing bad; we aren’t making errors,” Wilson said. “We just haven’t had our pitching and batting on at the same time. Hopefully with six games this weekend we can get them both going.”