UNO 5, HBU 0
UNO 3, HBU 2 (8 inn.)

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas - The UNO softball team swept Houston Baptist at the Great West Conference Cluster on Saturday, 5-0 and 3-2 in eight innings.

The pair of wins improved the Mavs to 13-10 overall and 3-1 in conference play at the tournament. Seedings for the Great West Conference Championship will be determined after Sunday's games. UNO plays North Dakota twice, starting at 10 a.m.

In game one, Dana Elsasser was stellar once again, throwing a complete-game four-hit shutout with no walks and three strikeouts. Elsasser (7-5) has allowed just two earned runs in her last seven starts.

Lindsay Gilliland's baserunning got the Mavs on the board in the second inning. Pinch-running for Amber Lutmer, who had singled, Gilliland went all the way from first to home in one sequence after consecutive errors by HBU's shortstop and centerfielder trying to catch Gilliland on the basepaths.

The Mavericks then posted a four-run fifth inning to break the game open. Kiley Thalken walked, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tonya Peterson. Lindsay Redding singled up the middle to score Thalken and advanced to second on the throw home. Lauren Larson walked, and Katelyn Hinton hit a three-run homer to left center to make it 5-0. It was Hinton's team-high third home run of the season.

Hinton finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. Redding went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Peterson had a single and a double.

In the second game, the Mavs fought back to win in extra innings after allowing Houston Baptist to score the tying run in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the eighth, Emma Wright singled and Mara Eeman came on to pinch-run. Eeman moved to second on a Peterson sacrifice, then scored on an error by the shortstop after a grounder by Larson.

Ashton Hughes retired the HBU side in order in the bottom of the eight to pick up the win. Hughes came on and gave three innings of relief, allowing two hits and one run while striking out six. Kat Barrow started the game and went five innings, allowing five hits and one run with five strikeouts.

Houston Baptist struck first in the first inning with a run, but the Mavs answered quickly in the top of the second with two runs of their own. With Gilliland on third and Molly Negrete on second, Barrow hit an RBI single to help her own cause. Emma Wright followed that up with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the seventh, when the Huskies rallied with two outs to tie the game on an RBI triple by Daniella Rodarte that scored Rebecca Rademacher from first. But Hughes escaped the inning by getting Melissa Herman to strike out with runners on the corners.

Wright finished 2-for-2 with an RBI to lead the Mavs.