KINGSVILLE, Texas— The Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team got hot at the plate early and posted a four-run second inning that would pave the way to a 6-1 Lone Star Conference win and series sweep over Western New Mexico on Sunday afternoon at Vernie and Blanche Hubert Field.
The Javelinas (14-4, 6-3 LSC) outhit the Mustangs (6-10, 3-6 LSC) 12-6 on the day and saw sophomore pitcher
Andrea Martinez pick up her first win of the season in the circle.
"What we did was settle in and started to calm down and let the game come to us ," Javelina head softball coach
Orlando Salinas said. "Andrea got the start and she threw strikes and kept them off balance. She's a contact pitcher and we made the plays for her — it worked out really well."
The sweep against WNMU is the first home series sweep of the season for TAMUK after playing its non-conference schedule and first two LSC series on the road, the most recent resulting in dropping two of three at St. Mary's.
"We played our first 16 games on the road and (St. Mary's) was the last set," Salinas said. "We just couldn't wait to get home. Now that we're home, we can get back on track with a little winning streak and we get to sleep in our own beds. That's a big deal, being comfortable."
The Javelinas saw success at the plate fast as they picked up three straight singles from
Lindsey Evans,
Kaylynne Ruiz and
Mariah Vasquez to load the bases with no outs to open the bottom of the second inning.
On the ensuing at-bat,
Anissa Lechner cashed in by drilling an RBI single up the middle to bring in Evans for the 1-0 Javelinas lead.
Not to be outdone, catcher
Victoria Mosqueda hit a 2 RBI single up the middle to score Ruiz and Vasquez and
Breana Carr would bring home Lechner on a sac fly two at-bats later to give the Javelinas a 4-0 lead.
"I think today we were more focused on getting the hits early because it gets kind of stressful when you wait a little bit." Mosqueda said. "I feel we're in a pretty good position. We're just going to have to keep going on this momentum."
The Mustangs responded in the top of the third with a three straight hits with two outs, concluding with an RBI single from Kamerynn Cordova to bring in Julie Peters.
In the bottom of the fourth, a
Seleste Compian single loaded the bases for TAMUK with one out, prompting WNMU to pull starting pitcher Labraida Tenorio from the circle and hand the reins to Cordova.
Carr singled to left moments later and allowed Lechner to come home and give the Javelinas a 5-1 lead.
TAMUK Freshman
Dakota Martinez added a cherry on top in the sixth with a solo shot to center field to make it 6-1.
Carr was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI, Mosqueda went 2 for 2 with 2 RBI and Lechner was 2 for 3, an RBI and two runs scored.
Martinez turned in 5.0 innings of work and allowed six hits and one earned run to pick up her first win of the season before giving way to
Beth Montes in the sixth.
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