Stephen F. Austin took advantage of seven Bearkat errors as the Lumberjacks swept a softball doubleheader with Sam Houston by scores of 6-3 and 10-5.
The two games opened the Southland Conference schedule for SFA (6-6) and Sam Houston (4-9). The pair will close the three-game series with a 2 p.m. single game Wednesday. The series originally was scheduled to be played in Nacogdoches but was moved to Huntsville's Bearkat Softball Complex because of wet grounds at SFA.
Five unearned runs on four Bearkat errors and a passed ball allowed Stephen F. Austin to come from behind to win 6-3 in the first game.
Sophomore right fielder Erin Burford and freshman center fielder Kim Damian hit solo home runs in the second and fourth innings, respectively, to give Sam Houston a 2-1 lead. After a walk, Amy Brown picked up a go-ahead run for the Kats scoring on a muffed fly ball by the Lumberjacks' shortstop.
SFA took the lead with four unearned runs in the top of the seventh as Kayla Gutowski reached on an error, was singled to third and scored on an error. Another error and a passed ball produced two more runs before Caruthers produced the Jacks' only RBI of the game with a single.
Left fielder Bethany Brown's three-run triple sparked a five-run fifth inning to lead SFA to a 10-5 victory in the nightcap.
Freshman catcher Ashley Isbell gave the Bearkats an early 5-2 lead with a three-run double to center field in the third inning. SFA pitcher Angela White walked the bases full to set up Isbell base clearing hit.
An RBI double by Morgan Mikulin and a run-scoring single by Erin Burford put Sam Houston ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap.
SFA tied the game 2-2 in the second as Briana Bishop singled then scored on a single by Kayla Gutowski. Designated hitter Karissa Jones brought Gutowski in for the tying run on a grounder to second base.
The Jacks cut the Bearkat margin to 5-4 with a pair of runs in the fourth as Ashley Struchtemeyer and Gutowski singled and scored on a single by Amber Price and a ground ball by Brown.
Mikulin took both losses in the pitching circle for Sam Houston State. Monika Covington and Lauren Luetge each picked up their first victories of the season pitching in the first and second games, respectively.
