BATON ROUGE, La. – The Texas Tech Red Raiders had the final say in a seesaw affair Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a two-RBI double in the sixth inning proved to be the difference in a 5-3 loss for the Illinois State softball team.
"This was the best game we played this weekend," said head coach Melinda Fischer. "We have talked a lot about expectations for our team and how we have to raise our standard when we face teams who have played in the World Series or Regionals. Today, I saw us do that. Our players competed really hard and Sarah Finck pitched a great game."
ISU had no problem getting a lead in the early going of games this weekend, and the Redbirds did just that against Texas Tech. Illinois State loaded the bases in the top of the second and Kaitlyn Knary reached on catcher's interference to drive in a run. The Red Raiders were able to get out of the inning without any more damage done.
In the bottom of the inning, Texas Tech struck back with a trio of singles and the help of two Redbird errors. The Red Raiders would score two runs in the inning, but ISU did get the third out of the frame on the base paths. Finck ran into more trouble in the third inning as Texas Tech loaded the bases with two outs. However, Finck induced an easy groundball to the left side of the infield to get out of the inning.
The Redbirds battled back in the top of the fourth to tie the game as Regan Romshek reached base to start the frame. Later in the inning, Allison Spence hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Romshek in to tie the game. In the top of the sixth inning, it was Abby Turczyn's turn to come up clutch. With Romshek standing on third, Turczyn singled through the left side to give ISU a 3-2 lead.
It did not take long for the Red Raiders to respond, though, as Kirsten Schwirtlich homered to lead off the bottom of the sixth. It was the first earned run Finck had given up on the day. Later in the inning, Romshek entered to pitch and Jessica Hartwell hit a two-RBI double to give the Red Raiders a 5-3 lead.
The Redbirds went down in order in the top of the seventh and are now 3-11 on the season. ISU is in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Finck took the loss to fall to 3-6 on the season. She pitched 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits while striking out one and walking two.
The Redbirds will begin a 12-day trek that will take them to three different schools for 12 games. The trip begins March 3 at Florida.
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