KINGSVILLE, Texas – As their ascent up the national rankings continues, the No. 15 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team will try to keep that positive momentum going during their second home weekend of Lone Star Conference play, which will pit them against the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday at Vernie and Blanche Hubert Field in Kingsville, Texas, followed by two games on Sunday against the No. 18 West Texas A&M Lady Buffaloes starting at 12 p.m.
The Javelinas are back home after compiling a 5-2 record over a seven-game road trip to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Those seven games saw four different Javelinas hit over .400, led by freshman Kayla Gonzales (San Antonio, Texas) who batted an even .500 with three homers and 11 RBIs. Gonzales' 28 RBIs for the season are tied for the third-most in the nation and she's driven in multiple runs in nine of her team's 15 games.
The list of hot hitters for TAMUK also includes sophomore Jory Cervantes (Pflugerville, Texas), who spent the last seven games going 11-for-23 and has multiple hits in seven of her last nine contests. Over that stretch, Cervantes' average has jumped from .296 to .397 and she's scored 10 runs.
Freshman Natalie Rodriguez (Edinburg, Texas) has collected 10 hits in her last 23 trips to the plate, good enough for a .435 clip. In her team's most recent victory, Rodriguez put together her first multi-homer game as a Javelina, with her second round-tripper snapping a tie in the seventh inning and providing the difference in a 7-5 Javelina win.
"Our approach is pretty good," said coach Craig Nicholson. "Most of the time we're getting pretty good pitches to hit. It's a good combination of staying patient until we get a pitch, yet being aggressive enough that when we do get something to drive, we're doing a good job of getting to those pitches."
The first opponent to try to quiet TAMUK's hot bats will be an Eastern New Mexico team that is still attempting to find its footing in 2021. ENMU has started the season 0-8 and each loss has come via the run rule. The Greyhounds have had to deal with some of the toughest competition the LSC has to offer, as their first three opponents are all nationally ranked and their last doubleheader was against a Lubbock Christian squad that began the year ranked 19th.
Coach Kira Zeiter is in her third year leading the ENMU softball program and she's attempting to recapture the form her team showed last year, when they were 11-8 before season was shutdown. That mark included a 5-1 record in the LSC and doubleheader sweep of West Texas A&M on the final weekend of the year.
The newest edition of the Lady Buffs looks very different from the one the Greyhounds saw at the end of 2020 and the 2021 version is swinging the bats as well as any team in Division II. No one can claim a higher home run total than WT's 29 and their .362 batting average is 20th nationally. In 20 games, the Lady Buffs have scored 10 or more runs seven times with a season-high of 19 that they've reached twice.
The players who've done the most damage for WT in 2021 are senior Shanna McBroom and sophomore Ruby Salzman. No player in the nation with a batting average of .500 or better has more at-bats than McBroom, who's hitting .521 in 73 trips to the plate. Her 29 runs scored are also tied for the most in the country and she leads her team with 12 steals.
Salzman is only one off the national lead in home runs with eight and her 31 RBIs are the second-most in Division II. She's driven in nine runs in her last three games and she also has two multi-homer games to her credit so far this year to go with a .486 average.
"There are probably two big factors," said Nicholson. "It's walking a pretty fine line of not giving them any free bases and then being able to work ahead in the count and put them in positions where they have to hit what you want them to hit."
Live coverage of each game can be found via Javelinaathletics.com, where fans can find links to live video and up-to-the-minute stats, as well as recaps of both doubleheaders following the final out. 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.
Get the Official Javelina Athletics Mobile App presented by Whataburger today! Download on the App Store or Get It on Google Play to keep up with all the news, scores and updates of your favorite Javelinas
