DENTON, Texas (Apr. 8) – The TWU softball team split its doubleheader against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday evening at Pioneer Field. The Pioneers' offense exploded for 10 runs in a 10-2 five-inning run-rule victory, but a seventh-inning comeback came up just short in a 6-5 loss in the nightcap.
 
The runs came early and often in the first game with the home team scoring in four straight innings, en route to a run-rule. The nightcap featured a pitching duel that came down to the final inning of play.
 
In the opening game, five hits and two fielding errors led to five runs in the third inning for the Pioneers.
 
The top of the order led the TWU offense in game one. Tealey Farquhar went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and three runs scored. She was hit by a pitch in her first at bat, stole second and third and then scored off a Laura Mabary single. Farquhar recorded her first triple of the season in the second inning, knocking in two runs.
 
Hitting after Farquhar, Logan Polasek also went 2-for-3 at the plate. She knocked in runs with a single and her second double of the season.
 
Tori Bice won her 15^th game in the circle, allowing just two runs off seven hits in five innings of work. She pitched three scoreless innings before giving up a solo home run in the fourth and an RBI in the fifth.
 
The runs did not come as easy in the night cap. TWU posted nine hits but left nine baserunners stranded on base. TAMUK scored the first run, but TWU responded right back with two runs in the second with back-to-back RBI doubles by Morgan Harrison and Alexis Elizondo.
 
TWU held a 2-1 lead until the seventh inning when the visitors erupted for five runs off four hits. A triple led off the inning, followed by a walk and then a double steal tied the game at 2-2. A RBI single and a bases-loaded double put TAMUK ahead, 6-2.
 
The Pioneers did not give up without a fight. With the bases loaded, Katy Stephens hit a double to right center that cleared the bases. A strikeout ended the comeback for TWU.
 
The nightcap featured a pitching duel between TWU's Hailey Dixon and TAMUK's Sarah Gilbert. Dixon allowed one run through six innings until giving up the five runs in the seventh.
 
"Our offense was on in the first game and it was opposite in the second until the last inning," said TWU head coach Genny Stidham.  "We got timely hits in game-one and Tori did a nice job in the circle.  Hailey did a good job as well except one bad inning.  I am proud of the girls for not giving up at the end and fighting to the end."
 
TWU returns to action on Saturday, April 9 when it concludes play against Texas A&M Kingsville with a doubleheader at 2 p.m.