ABILENE – The Howard Payne Lady Jackets softball team improved to 8-3 on the season with a 12-3 victory over St. Thomas Thursday afternoon in non-conference action at Hardin-Simmons University’s Ellis Field.

Tied at 3 through five innings, the Lady Jackets put six runs on the board in the top of the sixth and added three insurance runs in the seventh to pull away for a comfortable win.

Howard Payne collected 11 hits and drew five walks en route to the victory. Offensive standouts included Alexis Sullivan with two hit and four RBIs; Kayla Hill and Tori Muro with two hits and one RBI apiece; Kiley Persons with a hit and two RBIs; Ragen Noriega and Zaleigh Perez with one hit and one RBI each; Deandra Lopez and Brianna Perez also picked up hits; and Aurora Luera drove in a run.

In the circle, Tia Campos, Bree Cason and Tara Campos teamed up to yield three earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks. The HPU defense played an error-free game behind them.

The Lady Jackets face St. Thomas again at noon Friday at Hardin-Simmons, followed by a 2:30 p.m. tilt at the same location against Centenary.

Howard Payne scored nine runs in its last two trips to the plate against St. Thomas. [Photo courtesy of Mike Jones]