KINGSVILLE, Texas – With a Lone Star Conference record that was at 6-3 now standing at 7-11, the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team will attempt to move back on the offensive starting with a three-game series at Hubert Field with the Cameron Aggies, which will begin with games at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and conclude with a 1 p.m. contest on Friday in Kingsville, Texas.
The Javs are coming off a pair of gut-wrenching losses to a Commerce squad that not only is at the top of the league table, but is also ranked ninth in the country. The most important positive that came out of the series with the Lions was the offense provided by junior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio (Elk Grove, Calif.). TAMUK's first baseman entered the series with her average at .221, then proceeded to boost it by 17 points, totaling four hits in 10 at-bats with six RBIs. She also popped a pair of clutch homers. The first one was a go-ahead, three-run shot in the fifth inning of game one on Saturday. She followed that up with a two-out, two-run, game-tying round-tripper in Saturday's night cap. Junior Roxy Chapa (McAllen, Texas) also collected a pair of multi-hit games, as well as her team-high seventh homer, on the squad's final day in Commerce.
Senior Sarah Gilbert (Chipley, Fla.) and sophomore Breanna Smith (San Antonio, Texas) continue to eat innings on the mound and their combined total of 222 innings pitched are more than any other teammates in the LSC. They've also moved into the top five on the conference leaderboard in strikeouts, with Smith's 91 putting her in fourth and Gilbert one spot behind with 86.
The Aggies currently sit in fifth place in the LSC, but they've won just three of their last nine conference games after starting league play 6-0. They enter Kingsville attempting to capture their first LSC series since the beginning of February, when they swept UT Permian Basin. Coach Dennis Furr's bunch has proven to be a formidable bunch when they're away from home. Between road and neutral site games, they've won 12 times while only dropping five contests. This has come on the heels of a 2017 season during which they went 23-13 away from Lawton.
One year after earning a spot on the All-LSC first-team as a freshman, shortstop Brenna Busby has continued to be a lethal presence in Cameron's starting nine. She's in the conference's top 10 with eight homers while also demonstrating a batting eye that's yielded 16 walks, also in the league's top 10. Her ability to get on base has led to a total of 27 runs scored, eight more than anyone else on the roster. Kaitlyn Alvarado possesses Cameron's top batting average at .385 while Annie Combs's total of 21 RBIs puts her atop the team leaderboard in that category.
In the circle, Rylee Willmon and Bethany Hines both own spots in the conference's top 15 in ERA, with Willmon's 2.27 leading the way and placing her fifth among those who've tossed at least 50 frames. The junior from Luther, Okla. owns a 10-5 record and has recorded six appearances of at least five innings where she's allowed one or zero earned runs. Hines can lay claim to a more modest stat line that includes eight wins, four losses and an ERA of 2.81, but she's also held opponents to a .243 batting average, the seventh-lowest in the LSC. Hines beat the Javelinas a year ago with seven innings of two-run ball in Lawton, but Javelina coach Craig Nicholson and his student-athletes will be looking to write a different script in 2018.
Coverage of each game, including live video, stats and a postgame recap, will be available through Javelinaathletics.com. 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.
