KINGSVILLE, Texas – The home schedule is winding down for the No. 5 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team and TAMUK will host it's second-to-last home doubleheader of the year on Tuesday night, welcoming the Texas A&M International Dustdevils to Hubert Field in Kingsville, Texas for a pair, with game one scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
These two teams are meeting for the second time in 2019. They originally butted heads on Feb. 13th in Laredo in a doubleheader swept by the Javelinas. TAMUK came back from a three-run deficit in game one to win in extra innings and junior Breanna Smith (San Antonio, Texas) threw seven innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 Javelina victory in game two. The last 11 games between these programs have gone to the Blue and Gold.
Smith is red-hot after consecutive shutouts against Western New Mexico, which stretched TAMUK's shutout streak to four consecutive games. In her last 19 2/3 innings, she's allowed just one earned run and held opposing hitters to a .118 batting average. That recent stretch of excellence has bumped the junior up to third in the Lone Star Conference in ERA with a mark of 1.88 and she's also reached 10 wins for the third consecutive season.
The .332 batting average the Javelinas currently own is the 19th-best mark in the country and the 25 runs they scored in their sweep of the Mustangs were the most the team has tallied in a series this season. The contributors against WNMU were a cast of many, led by senior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio (Elk Grove, Calif.), who registered four hits in six at-bats, including a homer, and scored six times. Freshman Veronica Chavez (Tempe, Ariz.) went 5-for-9 with four RBIs and sophomore Anastasia Leibas (Del Valle, Texas) drove in five runs.
Freshman Loren Kelly (Rockport, Texas) filled her role of table-setter, scoring five times and stealing two bases, increasing her season total to 29. She's four stolen bases away from breaking the program record for steals in a season, which is at 32.
At 18-25 this season and 12-13 and in fourth place in the Heartland Conference, A&M International bounced back from a series sweep at the hands of Rogers State to take two-of-three from St. Edward's on Thursday and Friday. The Dustdevils began the season with six victories in their first nine conference games, but they've been struggling to find consistency since then. They've also had a difficult time against LSC teams, posting a 1-9 record against those squads.
Outfielder Maddison Schofield and pitcher Jenika Lombrana are the two players on coach Scott Libby's roster having the best season. Schofield's batting average of .358 is the ninth-best in the Heartland and her eight homers and 30 RBIs are both the highest totals on the roster. Lombrana owns a spot in the conference's top five in strikeouts with 83 and has also collected eight wins in 2019. Her two saves are also tied for the most in the Heartland.
Links to live video and stats can be found on Javelinaathletics.com and a recap will be available on the site postgame. 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.
