TYLER, Texas – Despite home runs from sophomore Aaliyah Ortiz (San Antonio, Texas) and senior Jennifer Giesey (Crystal Lake, Ill.), the No. 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team fell to the No. 18 Texas A&M-Commerce Lions, 9-2, on Sunday afternoon in the Lone Star Conference Tournament Final Suddenlink Field at the UT Tyler Ballpark in Tyler, Texas.
"We played well all weekend," said coach Craig Nicholson. "Even [today], I feel like we competed. They had some breaks go their way early, we helped them out a little bit early. We had opportunities to close the gap and didn't get a big hit. They played really well today and there's more down the road, so we'll see what happens."
The teams started the scoring by exchanging runs in the early going, as a fielder's choice scored Madison Schaefer for the Lions in the first, but TAMUK responded with Ortiz's homer in the second.
Unfortunately for the Javs, they couldn't hold that tie, as three Blue and Gold errors in the third led to three runs for TAMUC and a 4-1 lead. Giesey put TAMUK's second run on the board in the bottom of the third, but Lions held the Javelinas scoreless for the rest of the day.
The Lions tacked on three more runs in the fourth and tallied to in the sixth to push their lead to seven. TAMUC's starting pitcher Alyssa LeBlanc, who was named tournament MVP, held the Javs to two runs on six hits in seven innings.
Giesey, Ortiz, junior Saidi Castillo (Kingsville, Texas) and freshman Carissa De Los Santos (Kingsville, Texas) earned spots on the all-tournament team.
The Javelinas must now wait to see where they will land in the NCAA Tournament's South Central Region. The bracket will be revealed on Monday at 9 a.m. 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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