KINGSVILLE, Texas – With a berth in the Lone Star Conference tournament up for grabs, the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team will hit the road for their final regular season series, a four-game set with the Western New Mexico Mustangs from April 27th – 29th at the Western New Mexico softball field in Silver City, N.M.
The Javelinas are attempting to earn a spot in postseason play for the first time since 2010. Coach Craig Nicholson's team enters the weekend one-and-a-half games behind Texas Woman's University for the sixth and final spot in the Lone Star Conference tournament. The Pioneers will be spending the weekend at home hosting the No. 13 team in the country, the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions.
TAMUK is hoping to build on the momentum born out of their doubleheader sweep of No. 11 West Texas A&M in their most recent action. This marked the team's first sweep of a ranked team in a twin bill since 2005. In the first game, the Javs became the first team to score seven runs against WT in more than a month, as the home side earned a 7-4 victory. In the game two, the Javelina pitching staff kept West Texas's offense at bay and Kingsville walked off with a 3-2 victory when senior Rachael Longoria (Hutto, Texas) scored on an error in the bottom of the seventh.
The main task for the Javelinas during this series will be to silence a Mustang lineup that includes four hitters with batting averages better than .300. The top threat in coach Else Cocker's lineup is outfielder Ariana Maldonado. The Albuquerque native leads the team in just about every offensive category. Her stat line includes a .357 average, 10 homers and 34 RBIs, as well as 18 doubles, a number that leads the LSC. Infielder Alicia Habitzreuther spent the first month of the season hitting .400 and a still owns an average of .339. Another member of WNMU's infield is Carolyn Castillo, who put together an 11-game hit streak in March.
It will be the job of sophomore Breanna Smith (San Antonio, Texas) and senior Sarah Gilbert (Chipley, Fla.) to shut down this lineup. Both pitchers earned victories during their team's sweep of the Lady Buffs. Gilbert threw her 15th complete game of the season in the first game of the twin bill, while Smith fired 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball in the capper. Gilbert and Smith have continued to demonstrate outstanding durability during the 2018 campaign. The 330 2/3 innings they've combined to throw are more than the total innings pitched of any other staff in the LSC.
Western New Mexico's pitching staff has struggled throughout the year. Lyana Waddell leads the team with 134 innings pitched, but her ERA stands at 8.57. Junior Roxy Chapa (McAllen, Texas) will be one of the players attempting to take advantage of any mistakes by WNMU's hurlers. Chapa homered twice against WT, putting her season total at 12, which stands as a new single-season program record. So far in April, Chapa is hitting .362 with 12 extra base hits, including four homers and 13 RBIs in 12 games. Junior Lauren Oatman (Fort Worth, Texas) is riding a seven-game hit streak, during which time she's hitting .320.
A year ago, these two teams met in Kingsville and TAMUK took two-out-of-three, mainly due the team's offense. The Javs totaled 28 runs in those three games, including 23 in the final two. Rachael Longoria (Hutto, Texas) swung the most potent bat, smacking seven hits in 10 at-bats, driving in six runs while scoring five times. Oatman also had a productive weekend against the Mustangs, collecting five hits in nine trips to the plate. The Javelinas will be looking to take a series in Silver City for the first time, as their road record against Western New Mexico currently stands at 0-4.
At the conclusion of each game in this series, Javelinaathletics.com is where you can go for a complete recap. The series begins on Friday afternoon. 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.
