DANNY MARTINEZ – Arizona Communications Services
AUSTIN, Texas – Taylor McQuillin threw her fifth consecutive shutout, Aleah Craighton drove in two and the Cats won game 1 in Austin, 2-0 over Texas on Friday afternoon at McCombs Field.
McQuillin (10-1) allowed two hits in the game, breaking a stretch of four straight one-hit shutouts thrown by the junior. In her last seven starts, she has allowed one total run and allowed two or fewer hits in all seven. She struck out seven Longhorns in the victory.
McQuillin outdueled UT starter Paige von Sprecken who allowed just two runs on the night, both on RBI from Aleah Craighton. Von Sprecken gave up seven hits and struck out eight with no walks. She fell to 3-3 with the loss.
Craighton’s two RBI mark her second consecutive game with the only runs in the contest. She had both RBI in UA’s 2-0 victory over No. 4 Oklahoma in a Taylor McQuillin shutout last Sunday.
Craighton and Palomino had two hits each for the Cats. Palomino extended her hitting streak to a career-long six games. Jessie Harper, who went 1-for-3, extended her team-long hitting streak to seven games.
Arizona improved to 14-1 with their 13th straight win while Texas fell to 7-9. The two teams meet again on Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. MST.
Arizona opened the second inning with three straight singles, the final of which by Aleah Craighton, gave UA a 1-0 lead.
The Longhorns appeared poised to respond in the home half of the inning, using a walk and a double to put runners at second and third with no one out, but McQuillin retired the next three, including two strikeouts to strand the two runners.
Both offenses went quiet until the seventh.
Back-to-back doubles to start the seventh doubled the lead for the Cats. Alyssa Palomino doubled to right and Craighton doubled her home to give the Cats a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, where McQuillin finished the game.
Up next: Arizona and Texas continue the series tomorrow at 10 a.m. MST on the Longhorn Networks.
