SILVER CITY, N.M. – Junior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio (Elk Grove, Calif.) drove in seven runs and freshman Anastasia Leibas (Del Valle, Texas) homered twice, powering the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team to a doubleheader sweep by scores of 13-1 and 14-10 over the Western New Mexico Mustangs at the WNMU Softball Field in Silver City, N.M. on Saturday afternoon.
TAMUK's win in game one combined with a pair of losses by Texas Woman's University to Texas A&M-Commerce gives the Javs the sixth and final spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament. The Javelinas finish the regular season with a record of 15-15 in LSC play, a half-game better than TWU's 13-14 mark. Kingsville's overall record for the season is 29-25. The second game between the Javs and Mustangs didn't count towards the conference record.
The Javelinas' total of 27 runs are the most they've scored in a doubleheader since 2016, when they put up 30 in two contests against Eastern New Mexico.
GAME ONE
The Javs took the lead in the first when freshman Loren Kelly (Rockport, Texas) scored on an error and Leibas then hiked TAMUK's lead to 3-0 by clubbing an 0-1 pitch over the left field fence.
Schoonard-Saborio drove in her first run of the day in the second with an RBI double and junior Roxy Chapa (McAllen, Texas) crushed a two-run homer in the fourth, adding to her single-season-record total, which now stands at 13.
The fifth inning is when Kingsville's offense blew open the game. Doubles by Leibas and senior Rachael Longoria (Hutto, Texas) started the scoring and junior Arabella Acosta-Cantu (Corpus Christi, Texas) singled in a second run to make the score 9-0. Following an out and a walk to load the bases, Schoonard-Saborio lined a double into left to tally two more and Chapa's subsequent single brought in the fifth run of the frame. The 13th and final score of the contest for the visitors came in on a sacrifice fly by junior Lauren Oatman (Fort Worth, Texas).
Senior Sarah Gilbert (Chipley, Fla.) was the beneficiary of this offensive outburst, though she needed very little run support on this day. The only blemish on her ledger was single run she allowed in the bottom of the fifth, but, besides that, she scattered six hits and walked two with four strikeouts. Her 12th win of 2018 puts her career total at 23, eighth best in school history.
GAME TWO
In the second game of the day, the TAMUK offense went off again, matching their season-high for runs scored in a game.
For the fourth time in four games, the Javelinas broke through in the first inning. This time it was Oatman who lit up the scoreboard initially. Her double sent Kelly across and that was followed by a wild pitch to score Schoonard-Saborio. Oatman capped the rally by stealing home for a 3-0 advantage.
A run for the Mustangs was provided by Carolyn Castillo's RBI single, but Schoonard-Saborio's third circuit clout in four days, this one a three-run shot, put TAMUK ahead, 6-1.
WNMU scored three times in the third to move within two, but once again, the Javs answered. Three straight hits to start the fifth, the last one by Longoria, plated one run and, two batters later, Leibas stepped to plate as a pinch-hitter. She rocketed the first pitch she saw to right-center for a three-run jack and a 10-4 margin.
After the home team added two, the Javs tacked on three in the sixth, highlighted by an RBI triple from senior Haley Boyett (Waco, Texas) and a run-scoring knock courtesy of graduate student Ileana Aleman (Pharr, Texas). Chapa's sacrifice fly in the seventh pushed across Kingsville's final run of the day before WMNU scored four times in the final half-inning.
As the sixth seed in the LSC Tournament, the Javelinas will have to square off with the No. 3 seed in the first round on Friday in San Angelo, Texas. For more information regarding TAMUK's status in the LSC Tournament and to follow Javelina softball all year long, visit Javelinaathletics.com, follow @TAMUKSB on Twitter, like /JavelinaSports on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina athletics YouTube channel.
