KINGSVILLE, Texas – After opening the season with a weekend in Houston in which they notched three wins in four tries, the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team will be much closer to home during the season's second weekend, as the Javelinas are set to host the Portland Tournament, which will take place from Friday to Sunday in Portland, Texas.
TAMUK's schedule in Portland begins with a Friday evening matchup against the Ouachita Baptist Tigers at 4:30 p.m., then the Javs meet the Tigers again on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. before taking on the Hillsdale College Chargers at 3 p.m. The Javelinas and Chargers will meet for the second time on Sunday at 10 a.m. before the Javs finish the weekend with a 12:30 p.m. contest against the Henderson State Reddies.
One of the storylines that came out of the season's opening weekend was the brilliant pitching of sophomore Beth Montes (San Antonio, Texas) and freshman Carissa De Los Santos (Kingsville, Texas). These two hurlers led their team to two Sunday triumphs by combining to throw 14 innings on the final day of the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational and not allowing a single earned run. De Los Santos struck out eight and didn't walk a batter in a 7-0 win over Southern Nazarene, while Montes handed out only one walk with seven punchouts as TAMUK topped No. 25 Central Missouri, 2-1.
At the plate, UT Tyler is the only Lone Star Conference team to own a higher batting average than the Javelinas through one week. Sophomores Natalie Rodriguez (Edinburg, Texas) and Kayla Gonzales (San Antonio, Texas) and junior Jory Cervantes (Pflugerville, Texas) all spent the season's first week batting above .500 and Gonzales' 1.231 slugging percentage puts her second in the conference. Her two-homer, seven-RBI performance against Southeastern Oklahoma State represented her second multi-homer game as a Javelina.
Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist are two teams that TAMUK has played as recently as 2020, but it will be Javelinas' first-ever chance to match up with the Chargers. The Javs won each matchup against HSU and OBU two seasons ago and it was junior Saidi Castillo (Kingsville, Texas) on the mound for both contests. Castillo went the distance in each instance, allowing just one earned run on six hits in 14 combined innings.
TAMUK's next chance to take the field comes on Friday, when they'll take on Ouachita Baptist at 4:30 p.m. in Portland, Texas. 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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