KINGSVILLE, Texas – The NCAA South Central Regional Championship is set to be contested over the course of three games played on Thursday at 4 p.m. and Friday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Suddenlink Field at the UT Tyler Ballpark in Tyler, Texas and the two teams battling for this crown will be the No. 1 ranked and top-seeded UT Tyler Patriots and No. 2 ranked and third-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team.
The Javelinas and Patriots both reached this point by winning their pod in the South Central Regional Tournament and each squad had to survive three elimination games to accomplish that feat.
The Javs started the tourney with a win over the No. 6 team in region, Oklahoma Chrstian but dropped their next contest to seventh-seeded St. Mary's. After that, the Blue and Gold sent junior Saidi Castillo (Kingsville, Texas) to the mound and she almost single-handedly guided her team to three straight wins. Just hours after their loss to StMU, Castillo fired a complete-game shutout in a 1-0 triumph that eliminated the pod's top seed, Texas A&M-Commerce. One day later, she started both games of a doubleheader against the Rattlers, earned victories in both contests and the Javs swept their way into supers.
The Patriots took an identical route, starting with a Thursday win, then suffering a defeat in their first game on Friday before bouncing back to knock off fifth-seeded Angelo State and continue playing on Saturday. On that final day, UTT needed to top No. 4-seed Lubbock Christian twice and pitcher Tatum Goff, who'd shutout ASU a day earlier, started Saturday by shutting down LCU in a 3-1 Patriot win. UTT's offense took care of game two, with a 9-2 rout that locked in this super regional showdown.
The Patriots spent the final five weeks of the regular season atop the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 poll and the Javelinas held on to the No. 2 spot in the final two rankings. These two squads also rank in the top 10 nationally in runs scored, batting average and slugging percentage and can lay claim to the top two ERAs in the Lone Star Conference.
Five of the LSC's top 10 run producers reside in the Javelina lineup, including sophomore Kayla Gonzales (San Antonio, Texas), whose 58 RBIs have her two away from setting a new Blue and Gold record. Four of TAMUK's hitters also reside in the conference's top 10 in batting average, with junior Jory Cervantes (Pflugerville, Texas) leading the way with .434 mark that's tied for tops in the LSC. Cervantes has already shattered the program record for hits in a season, with her 85 besting the old mark of 79.
The player Cervantes is tied with in the batting average rankings is UTT's Ashley Perez, an all-league first-team performer who leads the Patriots in nearly every offensive statistic, including hits, homers, RBIs and slugging percentage. In the circle, Goff, the LSC Newcomer of the Year, has led the way for a pitching staff that includes three hurlers with ERAs under 2.00. Goff allowed just one earned run in 20 2/3 innings in the regional tournament and she's given up more than one earned run only twice in her last 12 appearances.
Follow every pitch during TAMUK's NCAA Tournament run by visiting Javelinaathletics.com, where links will be provided to live video and live stats and a recap of each game will be published. Stay up-to-date with everything related to Javelina softball by following @TAMUKSB on Twitter and Instagram, liking Javelina Sports on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com.
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