Friday afternoon, the Lady Leopards showed off all three.
Pitchers Caitlin Austin and Kayla Shepherd allowed just five hits and one run by relying on an error-free defense and the Temple offense put on a hitting clinic as TC swept Howard College 12-0, 3-1 in the season-opening doubleheader at Danny Scott Sports Complex.
“It was a good day for us,” Hennig said. “I told the girls when we came out, ‘Be able to walk away and feel good about what happened today.’ And they did that.”
Austin, a freshman from Nederland, made her first college start in the opener and quickly looked like a seasoned veteran, striking out the side in the first two innings.
“I was really nervous. I am always nervous,” she admitted. “But you get out there, the first pitch for the home team, you have to start it off right.”
In the bottom of the second inning, the Lady Leopards gave her some run support. All nine batters in the lineup reached base at least once as the Lady Leopards scored seven runs and made 13 plate appearances in the inning, making the most of six singles and two Howard errors.
“A seven-run lead’s not too bad,” Austin said with a smile. “Coach Hennig told me no matter what the score is, I’m always pitching a 0-0 ball game, so I never get relaxed and I’m always out there pitching my best pitches.”
Every pitch was working as Austin struck out nine and allowed just two hits and two walks in the five-inning mercy rule game.
“We had two big innings in that game,” said Hennig, who saw his offense add five runs in the bottom of the fourth. “I think that really helped us get started. It’s easy to pitch and easy to play defense when you have a seven-run lead.”
The second game wasn’t as easy, but it may have given a better indication of how good the Lady Leopards might be this season.
Shepherd tossed three perfect innings before Howard finally connected in the top of the fourth when leadoff hitter Isela Soto tripled and later scored on an infield grounder to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Leopards tied it in the bottom of the inning. Alexa Lyday drew a walk to start the frame, then advanced to third when Michelle Stratta’s sacrifice bunt attempt was mishandled. Lyday scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Haylee Bell.
But the Lady Leopards squandered an opportunity to take the lead when Stratta, who had taken second on the error, got tagged out in a run down on the sacrifice fly and Victoria Recek was tagged out trying to stretch a base hit into a double.
The Lady Leopards made up for the mistakes in the next inning with two unearned runs by McKenzie Sickler and Yesenia Torres, who were driven in on a single by Lyday.
“We took ourselves out of that one inning with some base running mistakes,” Hennig said. “But we came back with some runs the next inning.
“I was probably more pleased with the second game because we had to come back and I was proud of the way the girls battled back.”
While Shepherd didn’t get the run support Austin enjoyed, she was almost as dominant, allowing just the one run and three hits with four strikeouts.
“Pitching was good today. At times it was real good,” Hennig said. “Both pitchers pitched behind a bit more than they should have. Basically at (a 3-1 count), you are just throwing it up there and saying, ‘Hit it because I don’t want to walk you.’ And that’s a bit scary. But that’s something we can work on.”
But Hennig was generally pleased with the opener.
“We had a lot of new faces out there,” he said. “And I was pleased with the new kids and the way they swung the bat. And (the sophomores) who have to get it done had good at bats too. That’s what we are looking for.”
The Lady Leopards will host Western Texas in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. today.
