COMMERCE, Texas – Senior Jennifer Giesey (Crystal Lake, Ill.) blasted two home runs and freshman Carissa De Los Santos (Kingsville, Texas) went the distance in the circle as the No. 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team topped the No. 19 Oklahoma Christian Eagles, 7-3, in the first game of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament on Thursday at the John Cain Family Softball Complex in Commerce, Texas.
This victory puts the Javelinas in the tournament's winner's bracket and they'll play their second tournament game at 12 p.m. on Friday against either second-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce or seventh-seeded St. Mary's.
"We had some big swings," said coach Craig Nicholson, "and had a couple big plays to get out of innings. The double play to get out of the fifth I thought was a big play and the line-drive double play to end the game as obviously a big play. Defensively, I thought we did a nice job and then we had a combination of some really good at-bats and some really bad ones mixed in there too, but we strung enough good ones together and once again, the bottom of our order was outstanding."
Two scoreless innings got the game started, but Giesey allowed the Javs to put their first dent in home plate in the third. After freshman Rylee Oborski (Salado, Texas) drew a lead-off walk, Giesey drilled a two-run round-tripper to left to break the scoreless tie.
"I know my teammates have always been trying to look up to me," said Giesey, "and they have so much confidence in me, which makes me have confidence in myself. It's good to have a lot of people behind my back."
One inning after that long ball, Aaliyah Ortiz (San Antonio, Texas) lifted a high fly down the left field line that clipped the foul pole for a solo shot and a 3-0 edge. This home run, her 14th of the season, tied Ortiz with sophomore Kayla Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) and former Javelina Roxy Chapa for the program record for homers in a single season.
The Javs cobbled together another rally in the fifth, starting with a Giesey hit, an error and a walk that loaded the bases with one out. Junior Matisen Onofrei (Mesa, Ariz.) was then hit by a pitch to force in one run and Ortiz drew a walk to tally another and make the score 5-0.
The Eagles made their first offensive noise against De Los Santos in the sixth, when lead-off batter Brooklin Bain reached on an error and scored thanks to a Whitney Walde single. The next two hitters reached on a hit and a walk and Chloe Woodward proceeded to push a two-run single through the middle, bringing OC within two runs, but De Los Santos stopped the comeback there, inducing Rebecca Fajardo to bounce into an inning-ending fielder's choice.
Insurance for the Javs came in the seventh, when Giesey clobbered a two-run moonshot over the left field wall, recording her second multi-homer game of the year and seventh dinger in TAMUK's last six games. De Los Santos would do the rest in a scoreless seventh, completing an outing in which she didn't allow an earned run and held the Eagles without an extra base hit.
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