Tech Softball 12, Northwestern State 3 (5 innings)
Reese Torres hit her third home run of the season and drove in four runs to help lead Louisiana Tech to a 12-3 run-rule win over Northwestern State Tuesday night at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field.
Tech (9-2) plated six runs in the first, four in the second and two more in the third to blow open the game and coast in its home opener.
Allie Floyd pitched two perfect innings, striking out two, before giving way to Laney Johnson (1 IP, 3 H, 2 UE runs), and Bryannah Campos (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 UE run).
The Bulldogs capitalized on four first inning walks and an error to build a 6-0 lead as Bradi Gallaway and Rosalie Dufresne each registered RBI singles.
Tech added four more runs in the second inning, the big blast coming off the bat of Torres who lined her third home run of the season — a 3-run shot — opposite field over the left field wall to make it 10-0. Tech then added a pair of runs in the third on an RBI single by Allie Furr and a throwing error by the Demons.
NSU scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning but it wasn’t enough.
Tech will host ULM Thursday at 6 p.m.
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Tech Golf
Louisiana Tech’s Morton Bailey and Abel Derksen each finished under par for the third straight round on Tuesday at the Hal Williams Collegiate as both Bulldogs finished the event five under, tying for ninth.
The Magnolia Grove Golf Course played a full stroke harder in the final round. LA Tech would shoot one over (281) as a team, ultimately finishing in seventh on the team leaderboard with an overall score of 833 (-7).
“I was pleased with the way we competed this tournament,” said head coach Matt Terry. “We are still making some sloppy mistakes, but we will continue to clean those up at home in each practice. I was especially pleased to see us go from last in par five scoring in our last event to second in this event.
“Morton continued his solid play finishing in the top 10, and it was great to see Abel have his hard work pay off with a top 10 finish as well. All in all, the team got better this week.”
Derksen had the best scorecard for the Bulldogs in round three, closing out the day with a birdie on his final hole the long Par 4 No. 4 to shoot 68 (-2) which tied his season low from round one. The sophomore ended up claiming his first top 10 placing of his collegiate career.
Bailey had a sporadic round that included five bogeys and six birdies. The sophomore would finish with a one under 69 to secure his first collegiate top 10. He now has four top 20 finishes in his six tournaments this season and has six of his last seven rounds at or under par.
As a result, Derksen and Bailey outdueled seven players who were ranked in the top 150 in the country.
The remaining two scorecards used for LA Tech came from Riley Hnatyshyn and Oskari Schuvalow who each registered a final round of 72 (+2). Both Bulldogs tied for 39th on the player leaderboard.
No. 13-ranked Illinois ran away with the team title, shooting 809 (-31).
LA Tech ended up tallying three wins over top 100 teams including Southern Illinois (87), Rice (53), and host South Alabama (57).
