BELTON — The pitching was on-point for UMHB Softball on Wednesday afternoon.
Facing a McMurry lineup that had hit above .300 in each of its previous six contests, The Cru shut the Warhawks down at the plate, leading wire-to-wire in a doubleheader sweep at home. McMurry hit just .111 in the twinbill, as UMHB won by scores of 3-0 and 8-1.
The Cru is now 15-7 overall, and a perfect 9-0 at Dee Dillon Field. In fact, UMHB has won its last 19 games at home, a streak that dates back to March 16, 2024.
Of the 10 doubleheaders played by the Crusaders this season, the run differential of +10 is tied for the most against a D-III opponent this season, with UMHB having outscored both York and Carnegie Mellon by 10 runs in doubleheader sweeps in early March.
Eileigh Whyte provided the early spark in the circle, tossing a one-hitter through six innings in Game 1. The senior fanned six batters, the second-most strikeouts by an opposing pitcher against McMurry this season. Whyte (6-3) did not walk a batter in her sixth win of the season, setting the stage for Alli Dafoe’s seventh-inning save. The freshman from Granbury, Texas allowed just one baserunner on a walk, en route to her first collegiate save.
It marked the first one-hitter thrown against McMurry in 2025, and the fewest hits by the Warhawks in a game since May 13, 2023, when UMHB’s Grason Long threw her second no-hitter of the season in the ASC Tournament.
Taylor Henken, batting out of the ninth spot in the lineup in Game 1, played a key role in building the lead that Whyte and Dafoe successfully protected. The center fielder went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, both with two outs. In the fourth, with UMHB holding a 1-0 lead thanks to Bailey Frenzel’s first-inning RBI, Henken stepped to the plate with Vic Shimabukuro standing on third. Henken lined a single to right field for UMHB’s first multi-run lead of the day, and extended that in the sixth on a two-out single to left, this time scoring Madeline Stephenson from second.
Chloee Miller fired a complete game in the second contest of the afternoon, her fourth complete game of the season. The senior scattered four hits across seven frames, with McMurry’s lone run coming on Sabrina Graf’s solo home run in the fifth. Miller did not walk a batter for the third time this year, while striking out three. It marked the seventh time in 22 games this season that the opponent did not record a walk, including the second time in The Cru’s last three.
UMHB found plenty of offense in the second game to complement Miller’s pitching, with two hits apiece from Henken, Stephenson, Tori Skinner, and Kylie Hoggatt. Skinner had a performance to remember, reaching base on a hit-by-pitch in the first, tripling in the second, and homering in the fourth. In a five-run second inning, Skinner was at the plate when Lindsey Polleschultz stole home for a 5-0 lead, and lined a triple to left field, setting up an RBI from Hoggatt for a 6-0 advantage.
It was the first triple of Skinner’s collegiate career, and just the third for UMHB this season. She followed that up by taking a two-out pitch over the outfield fence in the fourth, also scoring Gabriela Vela for an 8-0 lead. Skinner is now second on the team with two homers, and leads The Cru in RBIs, with 18. The senior catcher is sixth in the ASC in RBIs and also ranks sixth in slugging percentage (.667).
UMHB now turns its focus to Saturday’s 12 p.m. doubleheader in Belton, as The Cru hosts LeTourneau in American Southwest Conference action. The Yellowjackets come in struggling, with seven straight losses after an 8-7 start. LETU notably beat fifth-ranked Belhaven early in non-conference play, but has fallen off at the plate, with just six runs over the last six games, including three shutouts in a four-game stretch.
