SILVER CITY, N.M. – Freshman Anastasia Leibas (Del Valle, Texas) hit a grand slam and drove in six runs while the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team scored an 11-2 victory over the Western New Mexico Mustangs in game two of a doubleheader on Friday afternoon at the WNMU Softball Field in Silver City, N.M. The Mustangs won the first game, 7-4.
This split puts the Javelinas' record at 27-25 and 14-16 in the Lone Star Conference. In order to secure a spot in the LSC tournament, the Javs will need to win the opener of Saturday's twin bill and have Texas A&M-Commerce sweep their three-game series with Texas Woman's University. Western New Mexico now owns a record of 5-42 and 3-26 in the LSC.
GAME ONE
It didn't take long for the Javelinas to get on the scoreboard. Junior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio (Elk Grove, Calif.) stepped up as the second batter of the game and ripped one over the right field fence for her seventh homer of the season.
In the second, hits by junior Lauren Oatman (Fort Worth, Texas) and senior Haley Boyett (Waco, Texas) set the table for a TAMUK rally. Junior Arabella Acosta-Cantu (Corpus Christi, Texas) beat out an infield hit to score Oatman for a 2-0 lead and senior Alexei Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) followed by rapping a single through the left side to plate Boyett and up Kingsville's edge to three runs.
That lead slipped away in the bottom of the third, when the Mustang offense awoke. Western New Mexico put two runners on with two outs for Mariangela Garcia. Her single into right tallied the first run for the host school. A second run scored off a wild pitch and an error and when Alicia Habitzreuther drew a walk, Carolyn Castillo came up and smacked a three-run homer to put the Mustangs in front, 5-3.
Oatman sliced TAMUK's deficit to one by cranking a solo homer, her fifth of the year, in the fifth, but the Mustangs responded with a pair of insurance runs that put the final margin at three.
GAME TWO
A pair of two-run homers, one by each side, started the scoring in third. Schoonard-Saborio's second blast of the day gave Kingsville a 2-0 lead that was quickly erased when Ariana Maldonado went deep with a runner on, putting the teams back where they started.
After a scoreless fourth, the Javelina offense came to life in the fifth and put together their first extended rally of the day. Sophomore Sydney Andrews (Belton, Texas) started the stanza with a pinch-hit single and, with one out, a hit batter put two runners on for junior Roxy Chapa (McAllen, Texas). She roped an RBI double into right-center, restoring the lead for the Javelinas. When Leibas followed two batters later by dropping another ball in the gap, two runs came across for TAMUK. Senior Rachael Longoria (Hutto, Texas) closed out the rally with a base hit to score Leibas for a 6-2 lead.
The Javs then blew the game open with a five-run sixth. The inning's first tally came in on a single by Chapa before Kingsville loaded the bases for Leibas. On a 2-0 pitch, the Del Valle native launched one to left-center for a grand slam and an 11-2 lead.
Maldonado's homer proved to be the only mistake senior Sarah Gilbert (Chipley, Fla.) would make while throwing her 16th complete game of the season. In picking up her 12th win, Gilbert gave up only three hits and struck out five while handing out only one free pass.
Two more games remain in the regular season for the Javelinas and Mustangs, who will play a doubleheader on Saturday, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. CT. 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.
