KINGSVILLE, Texas – Freshman Natalie Rodriguez (Edinburg, Texas) smashed two homers and drove in a program-record eight runs to help the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team to an 11-5 victory in game two of a doubleheader after the Texas A&M International Dustdevils took game one, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon in Lone Star Conference action at Vernie and Blanche Hubert Field in Kingsville, Texas.
The Javelinas finish the regular season 25-12, their fourth straight year with a winning record, which represents the program's longest streak since they had seven consecutive winning campaigns from 1999-2005. Their final LSC record is 17-9. TAMIU ends the year at 25-18 and 18-12.
GAME ONE
It didn't take long for the Javelinas to put a dent in home plate the opener. Freshman Kayla Gonzales (San Antonio, Texas) crushed the first pitch she saw in the first inning to left-center for a solo shot to get TAMUK on the board.
Both pitchers took over after that, with TAMIU's Erika Cortez and TAMUK's Beth Montes (San Antonio, Texas) each putting up zeroes in the next three frames, but that scoreless streak was interrupted in the fifth. On a 1-1 pitch, junior Jennifer Giesey (Crystal Lake, Ill.) rocketed a solo dinger to left, upping the home team's edge to 2-0.
The Dustdevil lineup woke up the sixth, starting the frame with a double and a walk. Shelby Edwards tallied TAMIU's first run with a single and another RBI knock followed to tie the score. When Darrian Smith bounced into a fielder's choice, the go-ahead run came across to give the Dustdevils their first lead. The Javs only managed one baserunner over the final two innings as Cortez closed it out.
GAME TWO
Once again, the Javs got on the board in the first inning, starting with an RBI single off the bat of sophomore Matisen Onofrei (Mesa, Ariz.). Rodriguez was up next and she hit a liner to right that evaded TAMIU's Chelsea Salinas and bounced to the fence, allowing TAMUK's right fielder to come all the way around for a three-run, inside-the-park home run.
In the second, Rodriguez boosted her RBI total to four with a bases-loaded walk and she broke the game open in the fourth with her second three-run bomb of the day, a no-doubt shot to right. Rodriguez's homer brought up sophomore Makenzie Mays (Conroe, Texas) and she also went deep, sending a solo shot to center to put the Blue and Gold up, 9-0.
The only rally of game two for the visitors came in the fifth, when the Dustdevils strung together five hits and pushed across five runs to get within 9-5, but the Javelinas quickly shut down any hope their guests had at completing their comeback.
With runners on first and third in the bottom of the fifth, Rodriguez bounced into a fielder's choice that brought in RBI No. 8 to break the previous school record, which had been set by Sarah Norman in 2002. The day's final run scored on a single by junior Claire Chernosky (Sugar Land, Texas).
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