KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team mounted a furious rally in the bottom of the seventh inning against visiting Southern Nazarene University, but came up just short in a 6-5 loss on Saturday night at Hubert Field.
The Crimson Storm (2-2) led from the first inning on after Amy Madden cracked a two-out, two-run homer in the top half of the inning. They added another run in the top of the second thanks to a pair of Javelina errors.
The Javelinas (4-2) cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Amber Cherry (Splendora/Splendora HS) sliced a triple down the left field line with one out and scored on Rose Stubbs’ (Garland/Garland HS) sacrifice fly.
The Crimson Storm were able to tack on a pair of runs in the fifth inning on a two-run, bases loaded single from Kara Crawford. They added another run in the top of the seventh on a two-out base hit by Allison Fields that proved to be very important.
SNU starting pitcher Kaci Crawford was cruising heading into the bottom of the seventh and struck out the first batter of the inning. Ali Bodnar (Las Vegas, NV/Green Valley HS) got the Hoggie rally started with a solo home run to left field. A pair of singles and a fielder’s choice had the team down to its last out. Kaycee Bryan’s (Splendora/Splendora HS) pop fly to shallow left field appeared to be the final out, but was dropped given the team new life. Lindsey Brown (Spring/Spring HS) followed with a two-run single to cut the lead to 6-5.
The Crimson Storm brought in Jeneva Nelson to finish out the game and she was able to induce the final out to preserve the SNU win.
The Javelinas had nine hits in the game with Bryan leading the way with two hits, including a double. Denise Arnold (Katy/Katy HS) was tagged with the loss in 2.1 innings of work.
The Crimson Storm had 10 hits with Madden going 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBI’s, a double and a homer to lead the team. Kyle Lang also had two hits, including a double. Crawford picked up the win allowing nine hits and two earned runs in 6.2 innings while striking out four. Nelson was credited with a save.
The Javelinas are back in action tomorrow at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. against Southern Arkansas and Tarleton State, respectively.
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