KINGSVILLE, Texas – Freshman Saidi Castillo (Kingsville, Texas) threw the second perfect game in program history and coach Craig Nicholson collected the 1100th victory of his coaching career as the No. 11 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team took both ends of a doubleheader from the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds by scores of 8-0 and 4-2 in Lone Star Conference action on Friday night at Hubert Field in Kingsville, Texas.
The two victories also pushed the Javelinas past No. 6 West Texas and into first place in the LSC with an 11-3 conference mark. TAMUK is 25-4 overall. ENMU stands at 6-11 and 10-15.
"I thought we looked like we had 10 days off," said coach Craig Nicholson. "We let things slip a little bit. I thought their kids did a real good job putting the ball in different spots and working their way through out lineup. The good news is our pitchers both threw real well tonight."
GAME ONE
Castillo (15-2) added one more accomplishment to a growing list of accolades with a remarkable outing in the opener. She struck out the first eight hitters she faced and whiffed nine batters on the evening. Kayla Marshall, who flied out to center to end the third inning, was the only hitter to get the ball out of the infield.
Robyn Jensen is the only other pitcher in program history to toss a perfect game, doing so in a five-inning contest against Newberry on Feb. 28th, 2003. This is also the second no-hitter of the year for TAMUK, as junior Breanna Smith (San Antonio, Texas) threw one against St. Edward's on Feb. 5th.
Obviously, Castillo didn't need much in the way of run support, but the Javelina offense was able to find its stroke after the first two innings went by with no score. In the third, a pair of two out walks was followed by an Amber Reyes (Edinburg, Texas) single and freshman Jory Cervantes tallied the game's first run with an RBI single.
In the fourth, the Javs batted around while scoring four times and sophomore Claire Chernosky (Sugar Land, Texas) sparked the outburst with a lead-off double. An infield hit moved her to third before she scored on an error and senior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio (Elk Grove, Calif.) then upped her team's edge to three with an RBI single. Sophomore Anastasia Leibas (Del Valle, Texas) doubled in Schoonard-Saborio and freshman Veronica Chavez (Tempe, Ariz.) provided the final blow of the inning with another run-scoring single for a 5-0 lead.
The salvo that ended the game came in the fifth from Leibas, who crushed a three-run homer over the wall in center, allowing the Javelinas to walk-off with a run-rule win.
GAME TWO
The back end of this twin bill proved to be a much tighter contest, but Smith's pitching kept the Greyhounds at bat and the TAMUK lineup provided enough clutch hitting for the team's fifth straight victory.
The Javelinas and Greyhounds combined for one hit through three innings and neither team had a player reach third. ENMU starter Kimberly Herron didn't allow a hit through three frames while Smith (7-2) struck out four in the early going.
The pitcher's duel was broken up in the fourth when the Javs began the inning with three straight hits. The first one was a single by Schoonard-Saborio and she motored all the way home on a Roxy Chapa (McAllen, Texas) double. Up next was Leibas and she drilled a two-run homer to left for a 3-0 advantage.
Doubles by Chernosky and Schoonard-Saborio brought in TAMUK's fourth run in the fifth, but the Greyhounds got on the board a half-inning later. With two outs, Jennifer McElroy skied a two-run homer to left-center, slicing her team's deficit in half. Later in the inning, ENMU put two runners on, only for to Smith strike out Precious Aguirre, escaping with the lead intact. Smith allowed two more runners to reach in the seventh, but she induced a fly ball to center and a fielder's choice for the final two outs of the night.
The finale of this series begins on Saturday at 1 p.m. from Hubert Field. Keep up with Javelina softball throughout the 2019 season by following @TAMUKSB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter, @JavelinaSports on Instagram, liking Javelina Sports on Facebook and visit Javelinaathletics.com.
