Magnolia, Ark. – Stop me if this sounds familiar:
Elisa Favela threw a no-hitter against Northwestern Oklahoma State.
The Hawaiian pitcher threw her second consecutive no-hitter in only her second start as the Muleriders sweep the weekend from the Rangers, outscoring them 18-2 today and 35-4 over the four-game series.
In her 12 innings of work against the Rangers this weekend, Favela did not allow a hit, striking out 16 batters and only walking three as the junior improves to 4-0 on the season in four appearances in the circle.
Game one saw the Muleriders get out of the gates immediately –
Rachel Miller and
Faith Otts homered to the same spot in left center to start the bottom of the first.
Sarah Evans and
Chelsea Fagan singled before the Rangers made a pitching change.
With runners on the corners,
Sarah Pitre singled to left, scoring Evans. After a pitch hit
Savannah Martinez,
Laina Suesue moved a run across the plate to give the Muleriders a four-spot in the first inning.
The Muleriders added on three more runs in the second inning, with Miller leading off the inning with a bunt single. Miller then stole second and Evans and Fagan walked to load the bases. Pitre doubled to deep center field to clear the bases and push across three more runs and the Muleriders held a 7-0 lead after two innings.
Fagan led off the fourth inning with a walk, and Favela went deep for the first time this season to score two more runs. Martinez later doubled and scored on a Suesue single up the middle for the Muleriders tenth and final run of game one.
Sydney Wader started in the circle for the Muleriders, pitching the full five innings and only allowing three hits and two runs (none earned) as she improves to 8-1 on the season.
The Muleriders led game two off with a bunt single by Miller and a double by Otts that moved Miller to third. An Evans sacrifice fly scored Miller and a Fagan groundout scored Otts – and the Muleriders quickly went up 2-0.
The Muleriders scored another run in the second inning when an Otts hit by pitch with the bases loaded scored Martinez. They scored two additional runs in the third inning on a Pitre sacrifice fly and a Martinez single.
The Muleriders run-ruled the Rangers in the fifth inning on the back of solo homeruns by Martinez and Suesue to start the inning.
Christina Hill and Miller singled and Evans reached on a hit by pitch before Fagan ended the game with a single in the left center gap.
In addition to her two no-hitters this weekend, Favela went 8-12 from the plate, with two doubles, a home run, six runs batted in and four runs scored. This weekend saw her batting average jump 94 points from .227 to .321.
The Muleriders improve to 17-3 on the season and 8-0 in conference play. They are on the road next weekend as they take on Southwestern Oklahoma State in a four-game conference series.
