SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Pitchers Lizette Del Angel (Calallen, Texas), Breanna Smith (San Antonio, Texas) and Saidi Castillo (Kingsville) combined to allow two runs in 17 innings across two games and the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team opened the year with two victories, 4-2 over the No. 5 Angelo State Rambelles and 2-0 over the St. Mary's Rattlers on Saturday evening at the Softball Stadium in San Antonio, Texas.
These wins also put coach Craig Nicholson at 100 in his Javelina career, making him the third head coach in program history to reach that milestone. For the Javelinas, they have started the year 2-0 for the third consecutive season.
"I thought we pitched really well all night," said Nicholson, "and overall played very good defense. Claire and Kayla had really good nights at the plate and all the pitchers we used did a really good job. Our offense will need to improve but a solid night for our group."
TAMUK vs. ASU
It didn't take long for the Javs to plate their first runs of the season. With a runner on and two outs in the first, sophomore Matisen Onofrei (Mesa, Ariz.) crushed an 0-1 offering over the wall in left-center to give TAMUK a lead it would never relinquish.
Making that lead stand up was Del Angel, who stranded runners in scoring position in the first, second and fifth innings, with a bases-loaded strikeout allowing her to escape a jam in the latter frame.
More run support arrived in the third, when an error was followed by an RBI single courtesy of junior Anastasia Leibas (Del Valle, Texas). After freshman Kytana Muniz (Harlingen, Texas) came in to run for Leibas, she was immediately driven in when fellow rookie Kayla Gonzales (San Antonio, Texas) hit a rope into left-center for a double and a 4-0 lead.
The Rambelles sliced their deficit in half with two runs in the sixth, but Smith came in to record the final out of the frame and kill the rally. She then retired the side in order in the seventh.
TAMUK vs. StMU
The Javelinas' second game of the day was a pitcher's duel that carried deep into the night. Neither Castillo nor the Rattlers' Alex McLennan allowed a run through seven innings and Castillo didn't give up a hit until the fifth.
McLennan permitted runners to get into scoring position three times in the first six stanzas and had to deal with a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second, but she escaped trouble each time with her shutout still intact. The first two runners reached against Castillo in the sixth and StMU put the winning run on second in the seventh, but the TAMUK righty held fast both times, sending the game into extra innings.
It wasn't until the 10th that the Javs finally broke through. A one-out error put Onofrei on second and another Rattler miscue two batters later scored the Javelina catcher with the tie-breaking tally. Following a single to put two runners on, junior Claire Chernosky (Sugar Land, Texas) punched an RBI single into center to make the score 2-0. Smith entered in the bottom of the frame to record the final three outs for her second save of the day.
The Javelinas will cross state lines for their next set of games, starting in Arkadelphia, Ark. on Friday, when they'll take on Ouachita Baptist at 11 a.m. and Henderson State at 4 p.m. Stay current with Javelina softball by following @TAMUKSB and @JavelinaSports on both Twitter and Instagram, liking the Javelina Sports Facebook page, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
