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By PHIL HICKS
Sports Editor

In earning 40 wins this season, UT Tyler has used timely hitting and solid defense.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, those traits escaped them during Thursday’s first round of the NCAA Division III West Softball Regional at UT Tyler Ballpark.

Instead it was the University of La Verne (Calif.) that came through with the clutch hits and good defense to score a 3-1 win in eight innings before more than 700 fans.

If the Patriots (40-8) want to achieve their goal of going to the World Series, they must win the remainder of their games this weekend.

That starts at 10 a.m. today against the University of Redlands (Calif.). The winner advances to play at 4 p.m. Friday against the winner of the Chapman (Calif.)-Linfield (Ore.) game.

The loser is finished for the season.

La Verne (28-17) advanced to play Mary Hardin-Baylor (33-9) at 2 p.m. Friday.

The normal potent Patriots bats were held in check by Leopards ace Jessica McLaughlin (15-5).

The Patriots were held to just four hits and did not score a run until the seventh.

“It was disappointing,” UT Tyler coach Mike Reed said. “I felt we got in the box without any energy or sense of urgency. Plus, we made a couple of defensive mistakes that normally don’t make.”

La Verne took a 1-0 lead in the third when Kari Granger reached on an infield single. She was sacrificed to second by Jessica Ortega and then came home on Melissa Carlson’s two-out single.

From there, McLaughlin controlled things.

“I just pitched and relied on my teammates,” said McLaughlin, a senior pitcher from Claremont, Calif.

The Patriots appeared down and out until they rallied in the seventh.

Pinch hitter Carly Collins was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Pinch runner Courtney Carrizales was sacrificed to second by Julie Smith.

Carrizales moved to third when Lindsey Peters grounded out.

Kara Turner, a sophomore from Troup, pinch hit and her grounder got past third baseman Lynsey Padilla for an error and Carrizales scored to tie the game at 1-1.

But no sooner had the Patriots tied the game, the Leopards came back in the top of the eighth.

Ashley Paul led off with a single to right center. Carlson then laid down a bunt and third baseman DeStefano tried to get Paul at second. However, Paul beat the throw to place runners at first and second with no outs.

Trisha McCormick attempted to bunt and catcher Brittanni Hanna made a great play to snag the popup.

However, Hanna tried to throw to first to double up Carlson, but the ball sailed into right field, allowing Paul to get to third.

Padilla followed by making up for her error in the previous inning by lofting a fly ball to center. Julie Smith snagged the ball for the out, but when exchanging the ball from her glove to her throwing hand, the ball dropped and Paul scored on the sacrifice fly.

After Jodi Lindsay walked, Mandy Brenner singled to score Carlson for a 3-1 lead.

“I was happy that Lynsey was able to atone for what happened in the inning before,” said La Verne coach Julie Smith, a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic gold medal team in Atlanta and who played on Texas A&M’s 1987 NCAA championship team.

“We had awesome, awesome pitching and above-average defense.”

In the bottom of the inning, after an out Hanna singled, but the Leopards followed with a double play to end the game.

Hits were hard to come by as both teams struggled at the plate.

Hanna was 2 for 4, while Megan Richardson and Sara DeStefano garnered the only other singles for the Patriots.

As for Friday, Reed said his tem needed to get on track.

“We have to have sense of urgency early in the game,” Reed said. “We can’t wait until the seventh inning to try and pull a rabbit out of the hat.

“We can’t think of the big picture. We have to worry about the next game and take it one game at a time.”

Notes:

Ironically, there is no Shirley on the La Verne squad. … UT Tyler Ballpark is located on the southwest portion of the campus. To reach the field, take Loop 323 until reaching Spur 248 University Boulevard. Take 248 and then take a left onto Patriot Avenue. Then take a right onto Campus Drive. Park in either Lot 10 or Lot 14. …Tickets are available for $8 per day and good for all games that day. Children under 3 may be admitted free if they will not be using a seat. No passes will be accepted. … The winner of the Tyler Regional advances to the Division III World Series May 16-20 in Salem, Va.