Shooting Blanks

I normally don't like putting two sports in the same post for a few reasons. One of those reasons is I try to try keep a theme to the post and different sports and/or teams tend to be on different trajectories or have different personalities. However, this past week, both the baseball and softball teams from UT Arlington had a very similar performance. Each had a winless weekend. While I could put up two shorter posts rather than one medium one, the theme seems fitting to keep them together.

In last week's softball entry, I noted how there was a bit of a slide entering the weekend after a really good start to the season, losing the previous two Western Athletic Conference series, winning one and losing two in consecutive weekends. Well, this past weekend was worse overall. With the ever-hated Grand Canyon Antelopes coming to Allan Saxe Field, UTA had a chance to make a little bit of noise, but it did not pan out. 

On Friday, UTA lost consecutive doubleheader games in a run-rule fashion, 3-11 and 1-10, each ending after six innings. Sophomore pitcher Abi Gutierrez started the first game and went five innings, giving up eight runs, six earned, in the loss. Sixth-year pitcher Emilie Hoelscher started the second and had a nearly equally rough outing, 5.2 innings pitched, nine runs given up, six earned. UTA never had a lead in either game.

The rubber match was promising, but almost equally heartbreaking for the opposite reason. The Mavs scored three in the second inning and held a 3-0 lead as they entered the sixth. There, starting pitcher Jessica Adams ran into a little trouble. After giving up four singles in five batters, Gutierrez went to the circle in relief and got two strikeouts sandwiched around a three-run double. GCU scored four and that was the final.

On Wednesday, the Mavs traveled to Lubbock to face the ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders and it went about as expected, a 12-3 loss in five innings. Gutierrez again started and gave up ten runs, eight earned, in two innings of work. Hoelscher and Adams each pitched an inning giving up one earned run each. The bright spot was a three-run homer from Freshman Madi McDonnell. It was the third of the year as she was playing first base against the Red Raiders.

The Mavericks are currently on a six-game losing streak, going back to the last two against California Baptist. Their quest for a winning season, the first since 2019, has hit a snag. They are currently 22-20 overall. UTA is also under .500 in WAC play at 8-10. The Mavs have fallen from third to sixth.

Up next, another road trip, this time to Cedar City, Utah and a three-game WAC set against Southern Utah. Then Seattle comes to Arlington to close out the season.

Last note for the softball team: the Allan Saxe tribute was rescheduled to May 2nd after the weather forecast looked rough this past Saturday.

When I last looked at the baseball team, they were heading into a weekend series against Tarleton State. I said the results of that series would likely foreshadow the season. It looks like I was wrong.

UTA swept the Texans and all of a sudden, were in the top third of the WAC standings and were within a stone's throw of .500 for the season. A mid-week win against TCU prior to the Texan series and a rubber match win against Lamar on the front end meant UTA was staring at a five-game win streak.

Against Baylor at Clay Gould Ballpark, the Mavericks offense exploded early with seven runs through the first three innings. The Bears pitching settled in and at the end of nine, things were tied. UTA gave up an unearned run in the tenth and after a lead-off walk, UTA went 1-2-3 to end the game and the winning streak.

In the weekend, it was opposite of the softball team, except in results, which were exactly the same. The first two games were one-run losses, 6-7 and 5-6, before a lopsided loss on Sunday, 5-11 to the Abilene Christian Wildcats. The Mavericks were swept by a team that was several spots lower in the standings, about 100 spots worse in the RPI and it happened on their home field.

In game one, UTA held a 4-1 lead after five innings, 4-2 after six, 4-3 after seven and were tied at five after eight innings. As been the case all year, the bullpen couldn't hold a good lead and the offense could not rally.

In game two, the Mavs trailed most of the way, though they were tied after five full innings. The offense was the culprit this time around as eight Mavericks made it on base but didn't come around to score in six of the nine innings.

With four runs in the second in game three, the Wildcats never trailed and other than a 2-4 score at the end of the four full innings, it really was not close.

The most recent game, a 9-3 loss at ranked Arizona, was similar to games at Baylor or Dallas Baptist. 

I liken the baseball Mavs to a woodworking project. The piece of lumber that is an inch short will always be short no matter what angle you maneuver the wood. This team has talent but seems to be an inch short quite often. Eight one-run losses, two losses by two runs and three losses by three account for 13 of UTA's  24 losses. On the other hand, UTA has two wins by a run, three by two runs and another two wins by three runs. It seems like they are a piece away somewhere. A better pitch here, a timely hit there and the Mavs probably have a .500 record.

If UTA had won one game against ACU, they would be in fourth in the WAC today. As it is now, they are in a tie for fifth with two other schools. The other bad news, league leader Grand Canyon hosts the Mavericks this weekend. After that, UTA hosts Utah Valley, currently second in the WAC. If they can't figure out the little gap, UTA is on the way to a bottom three finish in a best-case scenario.