COMMERCE, Texas – Junior Saidi Castillo (Kingsville, Texas) tossed a complete-game shutout and senior Jennifer Giesey (Crystal Lake, Ill.) knocked in the game's only run with a sixth-innning triple to lead the No. 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team to a 1-0 conquest of the No. 14 Texas A&M-Commerce Lions on day two of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament at the John Cain Family Softball Complex in Commerce, Texas.
This triumph means the Javelinas will play on the final day of the regional tournament against the St. Mary's Rattlers, with a spot in the super regional series up for grabs. The first pitch will be thrown at 12 p.m.
"I thought that was a great game," said coach Craig Nicholson, "Classic pitcher's duel where both pitchers pitched well. We had a couple opportunities and didn't cash them in and finally in the sixth inning we got a big swing. I thought both pitchers pitched their hearts out today."
For the first five innings, this contest was a pitcher's duel between Castillo and Alyssa LeBlanc. Castillo induced a double play grounder to get out of the first and through the first six innings, she allowed only four singles and didn't permit a runner to reach second base. LeBlanc allowed runners to reach third on three different occasions through five frames, but she was able to get out of each jam.
The bottom of the sixth is when the Javs finally broke through for the game's only tally. Junior Jory Cervantes (Pflugerville, Texas) started the stanza with a bunt single and Giesey brought her teammate all the way around from first by lacing triple into the right-field corner. Castillo was then entrusted to make that slim margin stand up.
The top of the seventh started with a double by LeBlanc, putting the tying run in scoring position. Castillo fell behind the next hitter, 3-0, but battled back to full count and then induced popup for the first out. The junior from Kingsville retired the next two batters on a fly ball and a grounder to first, securing the shutout that sent Javelinas through to Saturday.
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