HOUSTON – The Celts of the University of St. Thomas swept a weekend three-game series from Southwestern (Texas), concluding the series with a 6-5 win Sunday over the visiting Pirates.
UST (18-8, 9-2 SCAC) opened the series Saturday with a doubleheader sweep. The Celts won Saturday's opener 5-0 before winning game two 4-3 in 10 innings.
Sunday's win was the sixth consecutive triumph for the Celts, matching the two-year-old program's longest winning streak. The Celts have 11 of their past 13 games, their best stretch since winning 14 out of 16 contests between March 12 and April 18, 2021.
UST will put its winning streak on the line Friday, April 8, when the Celts open a three-game series with Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference frontrunner Texas Lutheran (26-4, 12-0). The Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 in the latest NCAA Division III poll from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
The Celts will host the battle of the SCAC's top teams at Houston Baptist University's on-campus softball facility. Friday's opener is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
GAME ONE: Celts 5, Southwestern 0
The two runs scored by the Celts in the bottom of the first inning was all the support pitcher Lindsey Longuet needed as she tossed a three-hit shutout.
Jaelyn Simmons opened the inning with a double, which was immediately followed by an RBI triple from Lindsey Gonzalez. Gonzalez came home one batter later on Mallarie Munson's sacrifice fly.
Shae Montemayor and Ariana Brown both went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Celts. Montemayor's two-RBI double that scored Munson and Paige Odenbach highlighted a three-run third inning; Delayne Moreno added an RBI single that scored Montemayor in the inning.
Meanwhile, Longuet shut down the Southwestern bats, striking out seven Pirates and not allowing a hit until the fourth inning. The Pirates loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but Longuet induced a groundball out to end the inning. Longuet then retired six of the next seven batters to secure the win.
GAME TWO: Celts 4, Southwestern 3
The Celts erased a 3-1 deficit with runs in the sixth and seventh innings before winning the game in the 10th.
Simmons, Munson, Sydneye Cromwell, and Taylor Le all had two hits in the game for the Celts. Marissa Vasquez pitched six and one-third innings of relief to earn her first victory of the season in the circle.
Le started UST's comeback when she reached base on an error with one out in the sixth. After moving to third on Kayleigh Deakle's single, she scored on Brown's RBI groundball.
The Celts opened the bottom of the seventh with three consecutive singles; Munson's RBI single to right field sent Simmons home from second base with the tying run. Southwestern then got out of the inning with a fielder's choice and a double play.
Neither team managed to get more than one runner on base over the next two innings, bringing the international tiebreaker rule into effect starting in the 10th. Vasquez retired the Pirates to send the game into the bottom of the 10th still tied.
The Celts began the bottom of the 10th with Munson on second base, and she moved to third on Cromwell's single. Grace Torres then hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, sending Munson across the plate with the winning run and giving the Celts a Saturday sweep.
GAME THREE: Celts 6, Southwestern 5
A four-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning highlighted the Celts' victory in Sunday's finale.
Trailing 3-2 going into the fifth, the Celts placed two runners on base before an infield fly gave the Pirates their second out of the inning. Brown then tied the game with a hard-hit infield single that scored Brenna Ruether from second base.
Moreno then drew a walk to load the bases, followed by Simmons also reaching base with a walk. She was credited with an RBI as Le scored from third with the go-ahead run. Gonzalez then added what turned out to be necessary insurance runs with a two-RBI single that scored Brown and Moreno.
The Pirates responded with two runs in the sixth inning before Vasquez came in to shut down the rally. Southwestern put two baserunners on with two outs in the seventh before Vasquez stanched the comeback effort for her third save of the season.
Ruether went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Gonzalez picked up three RBIs during a 2-for-4 day. Longuet improved to 12-3 in the circle with the win, pitching the first five and one-third innings; she didn't allow an earned run until the sixth inning.
