Kelsie Batten tossed a perfect game as the No. 6-ranked UT Tyler Patriots scored a 9-0 victory over Sul Ross State in the first game of an American Southwest Conference softball doubleheader on Friday at Suddenlink Field.

The No. 6-ranked UT Tyler softball team pounded out 20 hits and scored 22 runs, defeating Sul Ross State 9-0, 13-1 in the opening games of the three-game series. The teams will play one more on Saturday at noon.

In the first game of the series, UT Tyler pitcher Kelsie Batten (2-0) was perfect, going five innings, allowing no baserunners and striking out seven.

The Patriots jumped on the Lobos (0-2) early in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning, highlighted by two homeruns.

Jackie Mendez would lead off the inning with a solo homerun, making the score 1-0 UT Tyler, but senior Whitney Burt would add more with a two-run shot of her own.

UT Tyler would add two more runs in the third on an error and a sacrifice-fly by Mel Hinojosa, making the score 5-0 Patriots.

After scoring one run in the fourth on an Erica Jordan fielder’s choice, the Patriots would end the game in the fifth. Vanessa Carrizales would single in a run to make the score 7-0 UT Tyler, and Mendez would end it with a two-run bomb, her second of the game.

In the second game of the afternoon, the Patriots would blast 11 hits against the Lobos, en route to a big 13-1 win.

Most of the damage was done in the first two innings, as UT Tyler would score five in the first. In the inning, Mendez would continue her hot-streak with a RBI double to right-center, setting the tone for the rest of the inning.

Leading 5-0, UT Tyler would score seven more runs in the second inning, as Carrizals knocked in two with a single to left to make the score 7-0.

Mendez would register her first triple of the season, knocking in Carrizales to make the score 8-0 Patriots in just two innings of play.

The big knock of the night would come in the same inning, as newcomer Erica Jordan would blast a grand slam, her first homerun of the season, giving the Patriots a 12-0 lead after two.

After Sul Ross scored its first run of the season, courtesy of a Doederlein single, the Patriots’ Mendez would have one more RBI up her sleeve, doubling in Raven Rodriguez to make the score 13-1 Patriots.

For the day, Mendez was unstoppable, finishing with six RBI, 15 total bases, two homeruns, one triple and an .833 batting average, going 5-for-6 on the day. Jordan was also electric, finishing with six RBI while hitting .500 for the night.

As a team, the Patriots hit .404 as a team, totaling 22 runs, 19 hits, four homeruns and 39 total bases in the first two games of the series.

UT Tyler and Sul Ross will close out the series at noon on Saturday at Suddenlink Field.