KINGSVILLE, Texas – Freshman Loren Kelly (Rockport, Texas) pounded out three hits and junior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio (Elk Grove, Calif.) cracked her third homer, but the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team suffered their 12th loss of the season, 8-3, at the hands of the Tarleton State TexAnns on Friday night at Hubert Field in Kingsville, Texas.
The Javelinas' record now stands at 16-12 and they're 7-6 in the Lone Star Conference. Tarleton State stands at 21-7 and they sport an identical 7-6 record in conference.
A lead-off double by Georgia Capell against senior Sarah Gilbert (Chipley, Fla.) (6-5) started the game and Tanna Huie pushed across the first run with two-out single. The TexAnns grew their lead to 3-0 in the second with a rally that began with singles by Karle Herron and Maddie Quintanar and a sacrifice fly by Capell tallied TSU's second run. Nyka Wood's RBI single counted Quintanar for the second run of the inning.
The lead for the TexAnns grew to 5-0 thanks to a two-run single by Quintanar in the third before Schoonard-Saborio supplied an answer by rocketing a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left-center.
Capell's second RBI of the night came in the top of the fifth, when she doubled to send Quintanar across, but the Javs moved back to within four in the bottom of the frame. Senior Haley Boyett (Waco, Texas) singled, stole second and dented home when freshman Anastasia Leibas (Del Valle, Texas) singled to center to make the score 6-2. In the sixth, the home side sliced the deficit to three, courtesy of senior Rachael Longoria's (Hutto, Texas) double to left-center, which scored junior Arabella Acosta-Cantu (Corpus Christi, Texas), but the Javelinas were unable to close the gap any further.
Tarleton State picked up two more runs in the seventh to up their lead back to seven and Jordan Withrow (12-4) finished off a complete game with a scoreless ninth.
The Javelinas and TexAnns will clash twice on Saturday, with the games scheduled for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. To keep up with the Javelinas all season long, visit Javelinaathletics.com, follow @TAMUKSB on Twitter, like /JavelinaSports on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina athletics YouTube channel.
