LUBBOCK, Texas — Not backing down from a challenge to end its season, the Newman softball team pushed an exciting game to extra innings before ultimately falling in a doubleheader to Lubbock Christian Friday evening.
The Jets (18-34, 7-16 Heartland) found a new gear offensively in the opener of a three-game Heartland Conference series against the second-place Lady Chaps (41-21, 18-5 Heartland), swatting a season-high 17 hits in their third-to-last game of the season and pumping out their second-highest run total in a 10-9 loss in eight innings in the opener. Things would calm down in the second game of the day, as LCU earned a 5-0 win.
The hits started early, with Newman getting two in the first despite being held scoreless, and only three half innings out of 16 ended without a team getting a hit. The Chaps were the first to break through, putting up three runs over the second and third innings, but the Jets began their best offensive show of the season in the top of the fourth.
Courtney Sartin kicked things off with a double, and scored when Kendra Mendoza notched a single up the middle. Alyssa Taylor kept the hit parade coming with a double and Rachel Withers put two on base with a single, and Taylor would later score on a double steal to cut the lead to 3-2.
The fifth inning didn't start quite so fast, but three straight two-out hits — including a Mikayla Medbery home run — wound up netting the Jets two more runs and made things 4-3, and Kate Smith closed things off in the circle in the next half inning to hold the lead. Newman pounced on that opportunity as well, as Delaney Hiegert notched an RBI groundout and two runs scored on Taylor Mannis' single to suddenly give the guests a 7-3 advantage.
LCU wouldn't go away quietly though, scoring four in the bottom of the sixth to tie things up, while a hitless seventh inning sent the game into extras. Withers singled and Hiegert reached on an error to start the eighth, and Katie Ingles grounded out to score one and Taylor Mannis doubled to center to plate another for the Jets, but the Chaps answered with three in the bottom half to earn the victory.
Six Jets put up multiple his in the game, led by Withers' 4-for-4 effort, while Mannis went 3-for-5 and Medbery, Missy Swanson, Sartin and Taylor each chipped in two hits. The 17 hits for the Jets are the most in a game in over three years, since they cracked 18 against Oklahoma Panhandle State on April 13, 2013.
Two runs in the bottom of the first kept the momentum going for the Chaps to start the nightcap, and a three-run home run in the fourth provided some extra cushion as Newman couldn't find its same bats from the first game. Hiegert pieced together a 2-for-2 game in the finale, making it eight individuals put up a multi-hit game for the Jets Friday.
Newman and Lubbock Christian meet in the series finale, which will be the Jets' season finale, Saturday at 11 a.m.
