Texas Tech University Athletics
Raiders Advance in Big 12 Softball Tournament
June 21, 1999 | Softball
The Texas Tech softball team went 1-1 in the first day of the Big 12 Tournament after falling to Missouri 2-5 and defeating Texas A&M 4-0. The 4-0 defeat of Texas A&M eliminated the Aggies from tournament play while allowing Tech to continue on in the double-elimination tournament.
Texas Tech (32-28) will face Oklahoma (39-13) at 10:00 a.m. at the Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Third-seeded Nebraska upset top-seeded Oklahoma 2-0 to put the Sooners in the morning match-up with Texas Tech.
In the first game of the day, Texas Tech was looking for a three game sweep of the Missouri Tigers this season. Tech defeated Missouri in a doubleheader (4-3,6-2) back in Lubbock on April 10.
Tech seemed to have the early momentum when junior catcher Kristi Tunnell connected on an RBI line drive to second base that brought in Paula Workman and gave the Red Raiders a 1-0 edge. However, Missouri answered in its half of the second inning when Erin Erickson homered to left centerfield. The third-seeded Tigers padded their lead with two more runs in the fifth inning at the hands of two costly Texas Tech errors. Tech would get one final run in the top of the seventh when Lauren Warner hit a line drive to third base that scored Eva Harshman.
The Red Raiders found themselves one game away from elimination in the second game of the day. Texas Tech, after falling into the losing bracket, faced conference rival Texas A&M who suffered a loss earlier in the day to Texas, 6-0. In the second inning, Tech mirrored its first scoring drive of the Missouri game when Kristi Tunnell hit a RBI single that scored Paula Workman. Later in the inning, senior rightfielder Stephanie Walls hit her first sacrifice fly of the season that scored Eva Harshman and gave Tech the early 2-0 lead. Texas Tech would get two more runs in the third inning when Kim Martinez hit a two-run homerun over the leftfield fence. The homer was Martinezs 11th of the season.
The Red Raider defense held thanks to a solid pitching effort by senior Emily Hayes. Hayes took the victory for Texas Tech which brought her season record to 13-10 on the season.
