IRVING, Texas – The University of St. Thomas softball team's season came to end Saturday but not without a valiant fight from the Celts, who played three games in a single day before finally bowing out of the postseason Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Placed in the elimination bracket after Friday's loss to Trinity (Texas), the No. 2-seeded Celts defeated Southwestern (Texas) and Centenary (La.) before knocked out of the tournament with a second one-run loss to Trinity.

GAME ONE: Celts 4, Southwestern 2

UST's day began with a matchup against the No. 5-seeded Pirates in a game scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. start. Lindsey Longuet scattered eight Pirate hits over fine innings while striking out three to get the win; Marissa Vasquez pitched two shutout innings to earn the save.

Southwestern's Maddie Mefford struck first with a two-out solo home run in the top of the first inning, but that was countered by Jaelyn Simmons leading off the Celts' half of the first with her seventh home run of the season.

Addison Lehew's bat provided UST's remaining three runs. She gave the Celts a 2-1 lead in the third inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Simmons. In the fifth, her one-out double sent Lindsey Gonzalez and Taylor Le across the plate.

The Pirates sent a run of their own across the plate in the sixth, but Vasquez retired them quietly in the seventh to send the Celts into a matchup with Centenary, scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

GAME TWO: Celts 8, Centenary 7

A wild back-and-forth game ended with the Celts claiming a walk-off, come-from-behind victory on Mallarie Munson's two-RBI double down the left-field line that scored Paige Odenbach and Le.

Sydneye Cromwell led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, then was replaced by pinch-runner Odenbach on the basepaths. With one out, Le reached on a fielder's choice as Centenary's defense tried unsuccessfully to retire Odenbach. With two teammates on base, Munson came through with her game-winning hit.

Le had three hits for the Celts in the game, including an RBI double in the first; she also scored twice in the game. Five of her teammates – Munson, Cromwell, Gonzalez, Shae Montemayor, and Delayne Moreno – collected two hits apiece.

Hailey Arrington pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Celts and ended up with her first victory of the season. She came into the game with no outs and runner on second after the Ladies had already taken a 7-6 lead. Arrington then retired the next three batters to set up her teammates' late-game heroics.

The Celts had little time to enjoy the win over Centenary, as the victory set up a rematch with Trinity.

GAME THREE: Trinity 10, Celts 9

Trinity jumped out to a 9-0 lead after three innings of play but had to fend off a Celts rally that came up just short in the final inning.

The Celts scored twice in the fourth inning to cut Trinity's lead to 9-2, then added five more in the fifth despite getting only two hits in that inning. The Celts loaded the bases, which led to Le getting hit by a pitch for an RBI, followed by Montemayor and Ariana Brown drawing bases-loaded walks.

Moreno then cut the lead to 9-6 with an RBI single, which was followed by Simmons hitting a sacrifice fly that scored Montemayor. Simmons had two RBIs in the game without getting a hit.

Trinity's game-winning run came in the sixth inning, which proved to be the margin of victory as the Celts added two more in the ninth before the game ended.

Brown and Montemayor had two RBIs apiece in the game. Montemayor and Le each had two hits apiece. Lindsey Longuet pitched the final four and two-thirds innings for the Celts.

The Celts' second season saw excitement and the foundations for an even better 2023 season.