Chernosky homers twice, drives in seven as Javs split with Dustdevils
Javelinas narrowly miss a doubleheader sweep
LAREDO, Texas – Junior Claire Chernosky (Sugar Land, Texas) homered twice and drove in seven runs on a day in which the No. 12 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team earned a split of a doubleheader with the Texas A&M International Dustdevils, who won game one 5-4 before TAMUK took game two, 14-5, on Thursday afternoon in Laredo, Texas at the Dustdevil Softball Field.
The Javelinas' record now stands at 21-6 while TAMIU is 19-9.
"I thought we fought hard in the second game after a tough game one," said coach Craig Nicholson. "Our offense did a really good job of getting good pitches to hit and taking advantage of good counts in game two."
GAME ONE
After two scoreless innings, a two-run Heather Ruiz single gave the Dustdevils the lead in third, but the Javelinas quickly got a run back in the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Chernosky lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring freshman Kaitlyn Smith (Seguin, Texas) to cut the TAMIU advantage in half.
In the fifth, freshman Kayla Gonzales (San Antonio, Texas) mashed her sixth homer of the year over the left-field fence to even the score at 2-2. With the score still deadlocked in the seventh, the Javs put their first two runners on and later loaded the bases with two outs, but couldn't push across the go-ahead run.
TAMUK's first lead of the day arrived one inning later, however, courtesy of a Chernosky two-run homer, but that edge didn't hold up in the bottom of the frame. A pair of Javelina errors followed by a single loaded the bases with one out and a walk forced in the run that made the score 4-3. After an infield single tied the game, Kristy Alanis dropped a hit into left-center to tally the winning run.
GAME TWO
The Javelinas quickly bounced back from their loss in game one by grabbing a first inning lead in game two, thanks to a double by sophomore Matisen Onofrei (Mesa, Ariz.) that scored sophomore Jory Cervantes (Pflugerville, Texas).
In the third, a single and a walk brought up junior Jennifer Giesey (Crystal Lake, Ill.) with one out and her grounder plated TAMUK's third run. Chernosky then delivered a single to send Onofrei across and make the score 3-0.
A run in the bottom of the third brought the home team to within two, but another Javelinas rally in the fourth blew open the game. A Cervantes single and wild pitch put a runner in scoring position for Gonzales, who punched a hit into right-center to restore her team's three-run lead. Another base hit brought up Onofrei and TAMUK's catcher crushed the first pitch she saw out to left-center for a three-run bomb. One inning later, Chernosky's second round-tripper of the day upped the score to 8-1.
The Dustdevils refused to go quietly and immediately threatened TAMUK's lead in their half of the fifth. TAMIU began the stanza with three straight singles to push across a run, and, after a groundout put runners on second and third, three more hits in-a-row each brought in runs and sliced the Javelina lead to three. That was where the comeback attempt ended, however, as the Javs turned a fly ball to right from the next batter into an inning-ending double play to maintain their hold on the lead.
Plenty of insurance runs arrived in the last two frames, beginning with a two-run single from Chernosky in the sixth. Gonzales and Giesey each contributed two-run homers in the seventh to close out the scoring.
On April 9th, the Javelinas will return to Hubert Field to host a doubleheader against the No. 5 UT Tyler Patriots with a first pitch time of 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.
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