MARSHALL, Texas—LeTourneau’s Maddie Flanery stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and swung at the first pitch she saw. With one out, she drove the pitch from UMHB starter Eileigh Whyte into the left center field gap in what proved to be the game’s biggest shift in momentum.
A 2-2 tie became a 4-2 LETU lead in the seventh inning, as two runs scored on Flanery’s RBI single. UMHB went quietly in the bottom of the inning; three-up, three-down, as the 2024 season drew to a close at the ASC Tournament on Friday afternoon. UMHB concludes its 2024 season with a 24-15 record.
The No. 3 seed at the tournament, the Crusaders were the second team sent home on Friday, after fourth-seeded Hardin-Simmons eliminated No. 2 seed McMurry, 3-0. As a result, two of the three regionally-ranked teams in the ASC went 0-2 at the conference tournament, with ETBU being the only one still standing.
Unlike in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Concordia, in which UMHB trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning, it was The Cru who scored first on Friday. Taylor Henken sent UMHB into the dugout with plenty of excitement after the top of the first, as she scooped up a two-out single in center field and threw out Kylie Grisham on a perfect strike to catcher Tori Skinner at home plate, preventing LETU from taking a 1-0 lead.
Lindsey Polleschultz then led off the bottom of the inning with a single, and advanced to second on Kyler Sanders’ sacrifice bunt. Bailey Frenzel delivered the RBI, driving a 1-1 pitch to left field that scooted past the glove of LETU left fielder Jaci Taylor and rolled to the wall, scoring Polleschultz. Bryton Wright added a solo home run over the center field wall in the fourth, extending the lead to 2-0.
But LETU responded with four unanswered runs, starting in the fifth. Lexi Hutchins’ fifth-inning solo home run cut the deficit in half, and one inning later, Maddi Smith erased the UMHB lead with another home run, tying the score. Flanery’s go-ahead RBI in the following inning capped off the comeback for the Yellowjackets, who advanced to another elimination contest against Hardin-Simmons on Friday evening, and won 9-0.
Game Notes
- Wright’s home run in the fourth inning was the fourth of the year for the sophomore, who finished second on the team in HRs.
- Polleschultz led the way with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate, marking her sixth game of 2024 with three or more hits.
- Three Crusaders—Polleschultz, Frenzel, and Wright—had at least one hit in both of UMHB’s tournament games. Polleschultz went 4-for-6, Wright was 3-for-6, and Frenzel finished the tournament 2-for-6.
- The trio batted in the top four of UMHB’s lineup in both contests.
- UMHB went 2-7 in neutral site games during the 2024 season.
