Softball Swept by St. Mary's

April 1, 2012

Final Stats

SAN ANTONIO - The Texas A&M International University softball team suffered a setback in their chase for a second consecutive Heartland Conference Tournament appearance, losing the final two games of their three-game series to St. Mary's 12-8 and 2-0 Saturday afternoon.

The Rattlers swept the weekend series over TAMIU dropping the Dustdevils from a second place tie in the conference standings, to a fourth place tie. The Dustdevils came into the weekend with a 4-2 record and now sit at 4-5, tied with UT-Permian Basin for the final playoff spot just one game ahead of Oklahoma Panhandle State.

GAME ONE: TAMIU 8, St. Mary's 12

In the opening game, the Rattlers jumped all over freshman Pitcher Sarah Johnson scoring nine runs on ten hits in the bottom of the first. The Dustdevils did all they could to fight their way back into the game, but the early deficit proved to be too much.

Esme Gonzalez led TAMIU at the plate finishing 3-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Kristen LaBuhn, Rochelle Nash and Dominique Salazar each went 2-3 and Regina Morales finished 2-4.

The Dustdevils put up their first runs of the game into third thanks to an RBI triple from Gonzalez and an RBI single from LaBuhn. The Rattlers added a run in the fourth to make it a 10-2 game, before the Dustdevils put up three in the fifth. Gonzalez hit an RBI single to score Olivia Garcia and Regina Morales plated two runs smashing a double over the center fielders head.

St. Mary's was able to respond with two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth, but TAMIU again fought back scoring three more in the sixth. Pinch runner Kyndall Reaves scored on a throwing error by the second baseman and Rochelle Nash hit a two RBI single to center field plating Alexis and Esme Gonzalez, cutting the lead to 12-8.

Sam Carrillo drew a leadoff walk in the seventh giving the Dustdevils life, before Emily Smith lined out to the third baseman who doubled up Carrillo with a throw to first. Desiree Ramos struck out looking to end the TAMIU threat.

GAME TWO: TAMIU 0, St. Mary's 2

While the Dustdevils managed 12 hits in the first game, they were less productive in game two being held to only four. Mariena Gallardo fell to 3-8 on the season with the loss, giving up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks through 6.0 innings.

The Rattlers scored their only runs of the game in consecutive innings, scoring one in the third and one in the fourth. Vianna Gutierrez hit an RBI single in the third after Nicole Sardelich was hit by a pitch and Taylor Vidrine singled. In the fourth Katie Nichols plated Jared Gonzalez on an RBI single, after Gonzalez had reached on a fielder's choice.

Six conference games remain on the schedule for TAMIU, all of which are against teams within earshot of a postseason berth. The Dustdevils will step out of conference play Tuesday, April 3 to visit Texas A&M Kingsville and then won't return to action until April 13 when they travel to Goodwell, Oklahoma to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State. The Dustdevils follow with another non-conference series versus West Texas A&M, before concluding with their final series of the regular season at home against UT-Permian Basin on April 20.

Texas A&M International University Softball