BYU drops a heartbreaker to UT Arlington

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Megan Arnold hit a homerun in the second inning, but BYU’s bats went cold as it lost 3-2 to the University of Texas at Arlington.

“It was a disappointing end to the tournament,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We fought hard, but we just didn’t seem to have the energy with the limited roster we have because of injuries and missing players. We just ran out of gas and UTA outplayed us today.”

McKenzie St. Clair led the team from the plate once again hitting .667 and reaching base on all three of her at bats.

The game started out with a pitcher’s duel as the first three batters for BYU were sat down in order. Ashley Thompson got the start on the mound for the Cougars and worked out of a bases loaded jam to maintain the scoreless tie.

The Cougars got the first runs of the game in the second inning with a base runner on an error followed by Arnold’s to run shot over the left field fence.

The Mavericks scored their first run in the fourth off a homerun to left field to pull within one. Not much happened for either team until the bottom of the fifth when UTA put runners on first and second. It then hit a single into right field to tie the game at two. McKenna Bull entered the game to end the threat.

With a runner on second in the bottom of the sixth, St. Clair made a diving play to stop the ball through the right side to record the second out.  She then fielded a pop-up to end the scoring threat.

BYU could not get a run in the top of the seventh and UTA capitalized. The leadoff batter for the Mavericks hit a shot over the left-centerfield wall for the walk-off winner.

BYU will be back in action Thursday Feb. 13 against Seattle in the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas at 6:45 p.m. PST.