Courtesy Hardin-Simmons University Sports Information Department

Updated Championship Brackets (PDF)     Official Tournament Program (PDF)

Hardin-Simmons celebrates its second straight ASC softball championship. The Cowgirls defeated No. 7-ranked Louisiana College, 7-4, in the title game. All photos by Melanie Robotham

Tournament MVP Arin Spence, who went 4-0 in the circle and batted .500, gets her commerative plaque presented by ASC commissioner Amy Cartlon.

The Cowgirls celebrate on Jim Hill Field #1 at Southwest Park in Irving, Texas, following the win.

IRVING, Texas – Hardin-Simmons University won its second straight American Southwest Conference softball championship with a 7-4 win over No. 7-ranked Louisiana College on Saturday afternoon at Southwest Park.

The Cowgirls (29-14) wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with three runs in the top of the first inning. Miranda Rousset led off with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt by Cricket Criner. Arin Spence singled through the left side. Sadye Hill loaded the bases with another infield single and Kate Bell drove in Rousset and Spence with a single to left. Lydia Bradley followed with an RBI single to score Hill.

Head coach Rita Jordan’s Cowgirls made it 6-0 with three more runs in the third inning. Spence had a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. After the second out, Bell had an RBI single to left and Bradley had double to put runners on second and third base. Seniors Nicole Espinoza and Katy Chester had back-to-back RBI singles.

It stayed 6-0, until head coach Tim Whitman’s Lady Wildcats (33-9) put up four runs. LC had four hits and HSU made an error in the inning making two of the runs unearned. After the four runs scored, Spence walked back-to-back batters to reload the bases with two outs, but she was able to come up with a strikeout to end the threat.

HSU added an insurance run in the seventh on a Bradley RBI single. In the bottom of the seventh, LC got a leadoff walk, but Spence struck out the side to give her 10 strikeouts in the game. Spence won all four games in the circle – with 30 strikeouts in 28 innings of work – on the weekend to improve to 19-5 on the year and also hit .500 with four walks and three RBI to claim tournament MVP honors.

Bell, who had four hits in the game and three RBI, Hill and Rousset also made the all-tournament team as the Cowgirls advanced to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year. HSU, which was the No. 2 seed from the West Division, is now 4-1 against top-10 ranked teams in the nation this year.

LC, the No. 2 seed from the East Division, had beaten No. 4-ranked Mississippi College, 3-1, in nine innings earlier in the day to create a rematch of the 2006 title game (which HSU won 6-4).

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

• Arin Spence, P, Sr., HSU (MVP)
• Kate Bell, C, So., HSU
• Sadye Hill, 1B, Jr., HSU
• Miranda Rousset, SS, Sr., HSU
• McCaslin Carson, P, So., LC
• Allison Rieve, CF, Jr., LC
• Leanne Shanks, SS, Sr., LC
• Randi Moak, SS, Sr., MC
• Leslie Shumock, 2B, Sr., MC
• Christy Shipley-Gipson, SS, Sr., ETBU
• Faith Meriwether, 3B, So., ETBU
• Daphne Kahlig, P, Sr., UMHB
• Jill McLaughlin, P/1B, Sr., HPU