Ella Cook homered and earned the win in Softball’s eighth victory

COMMERCE, Tex. – St. Thomas softball (8-4) split on day one of the Lion Classic with a 3-0 shutout loss to SIUE (4-8) and 8-3 win over North Texas (4-9). The Toms were shutout for the second week in a row during game one of a five game weekend but bounced back behind a strong performance by Ella Cook in game two.

Game One
A pitchers' duel broke out between Ava Kleinfeldt and the SIUE starter with no runs allowed (and just two Tommie hits) through three innings. The Cougars broke through for two runs in the fourth on four consecutive hits after a frame-opening strikeout.

Kleinfeldt struck out eight batters through seven innings, the sophomore has struck out 15 in her last 14 innings. She allowed one more run in the ballgame in the fifth inning after a leadoff hit-by-pitch came around to score after three straight singles. Ava went all seven innings in the loss with three earned runs on seven hits (six singles) and one HBP with eight punchouts.

The Toms tallied five hits in the shutout after they squandered a first-inning leadoff triple from Avery Wukawitz. They also could do nothing with Kameron Monson's second-inning two-out double. Wukawitz doubled her hit total with a single in the sixth and Ella Cook earned the final hit of the afternoon.

Laken Lienhard earned the solo walk of the game. This is the second time this season that the Tommies have had less than two walks, they are now 0-2 in such games.

There were no errors for either side.

Game Two
The Purple offense, thwarted in game one, jumped on North Texas with seven runs in the first two innings. Ella Cook brought Wukawitz and Lienhard around to score on her third home run of the season. Monson notched her second double of the day to score Cassidy Carby after she walked. Cook worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first to preserve the 4-0 lead.

Cassidy Carby's two-out single scored both Kyllie Weingart and Wukawitz before Abbi Stierlen kicked the "extra point" to bring Lienhard home for the 7-0 margin.

Cook kept UNT off the scoreboard until there were two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. They scored one run. The senior ran into more trouble in the fifth and was relieved by Mya Tautges with runners on first and second and nobody out.

Weingart retired the runner trying to steal third base for the first out of the frame. The batter than grounded out to Tautges. The freshman pitcher hit the next batter to put runners on the corners and then allowed her inherited runner to score on a single before an inning-ending groundout.
Lienhard strengthened the Tommie lead with an RBI single to score Tautges after she doubled. North Texas got one back in the bottom half of the sixth but could not complete the comeback.

Ella Cook earned the win with 4+ IP, two runs (one earned), on three hits, six walks, one hit batter, and six strikeouts. Tautges earned the save with three innings, one run, on five hits, two walks, and one hit batter.

Lienhard, Cook, Monson, and Morgan Klein all earned two hits in the win. Lienhard and Wukawitz each came around to score twice. The Purple drew four walks.

Up Next
The Tommies are right back at it tomorrow with a 9:00 a.m. first pitch against Southern (6-4) and 3:45 p.m. start time against the hosting East Texas A&M Lions (5-8).

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For any and all information pertaining to the St. Thomas softball team, follow along on Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) at @TommieSoftball.

Ella Cook homered and earned the win in Softball’s eighth victory

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Team Stats

Laken Lienhard

Kameron Monson

Morgan Klein

Ella Cook

Players Mentioned

Cassidy Carby

Ella Cook

Morgan Klein

Ava Kleinfeldt

Laken Lienhard

Kameron Monson

Abbi Stierlen

Mya Tautges

Kyllie Weingart

Avery Wukawitz

University of St. Thomas Athletics