SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Softball) – The Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team battled hard but fell just a little bit short against a nationally-ranked squad on Tuesday afternoon. The Hogs lost to the #8 Rattlers by final scores of 7-3 and 5-4 at St. Mary's Softball Stadium.

With the victories, St. Mary's improved to 22-6 and has now won four straight contests.  A&M-Kingsville fell to 14-15 and now has dropped four straight.

GAME ONE
The Rattlers came out of the gate quickly scoring six runs over the first two innings. Miranda Medina's grand slam in the first with two outs got StMU out to a nice lead. Alena Moreno and Raynelle Nash notched RBI's the following inning to build that early 6-0 lead for St. Mary's.

Roxy Chapa got the Javs on the board in the third. Rachael Longoria and Victoria Schoonard-Saborio earned free passes and Bella Acosta-Cantu singled to load the bases. That paved the way for Chapa to bring in Longoria with a SAC fly.

Longoria recorded two of the seven Javelina hits in game one. The second of her two singles came in the fourth inning and drove in Isabel Flores to lower the run deficit to 6-2 at that time.

Chapa would be at the forefront of a Javelina comeback attempt in the seventh. After Rattlers' starter Jorden Russell got two easy outs to start the frame, Roxy Chapa hit her fourth homer of the year to cut the St. Mary's lead to 7-3. Lauren Oatman and Haley Boyett would answer by reaching base to make things interesting. Russell then struck out Flores to end the threat and the game.

Jorden Russell (10-2) went the distance to earn another victory for the nationally-ranked Rattlers. Over seven innings she allowed seven hits and six walks but only three earned runs.

Breanna Smith (7-6) took the loss for TAMUK, surrendering six runs, five hits, and two free passes over 1.2 innings. Carlie Clark relieved Smith and struck out three batters while only giving up four hits and a run in 4.2 innings of work.

GAME TWO
Game two started exactly the way A&M-Kingsville would have liked. The first four Javelinas of the game reached base against StMU pitcher Kristi Rangel. Roxy Chapa again rose to the occasion and hit a base knock which scored Victoria Schoonard-Saborio and Arabella Acosta-Cantu. The next batter Lauren Oatman brought home Haley Boyett with a bunt single to give the Javs an early 3-0 lead.

A bunt would lead to another Hogs run in the third inning. Two batters after Schoonard-Saborio drew a walk, Boyett grabbed a bunt single of her own which allowed Vic to move up to third. Haley would later get thrown out at second trying to steal but that allowed Schoonard-Saborio to motor home to put the Javelinas in front 4-0.

The Rattlers battled back in their half of the third by sending nine batters to the plate and scoring three runs to make the game close. Raynelle Nash's single in the bottom of the fourth off of Randa Hatter tied the game at 4. Three batters after, Miranda Medina was issued a free pass with the bases loaded to put St. Mary's ahead for good.

Clark and Hatter both threw three innings in the circle for TAMUK in game two. Clark permitted five hits and three earned runs in her appearance. Hatter (3-5) took the decision by allowing three hits, two earned runs, three walks, and fanning five Rattlers hitters.

Ashley Mills (5-1) went four innings in relief while surrendering just a single hit and K-ing five Javelinas to earn the win.

NEXT UP
The Javelinas return to Vernie and Blanche Hubert Field for a three-game set against Texas A&M-Commerce. The series begins Friday at 6 p.m.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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