Canyon - After a 2-0 start to its weekend in Canyon, the Texas A&M - Kingsville softball team splits its two games on Saturday, beating Lincoln (Mo.) 5-1 to start the day and falling late to Colorado at Colorado Springs, 8-5 in its second game.
The split keeps Kingsville's record even, now at 5-5 overall, heading into the Javelinas' final game of the weekend, when they face Lincoln once more tomorrow at 11:15 a.m..
While Friday's wins highlighted the team's offense, TAMUK's 9 a.m. first-pitch matchup with Lincoln was all about the team's defense. Two pitchers, junior
Kristina Nash and freshman Ariana Alaniz, combined to throw just four hits and give up no earned runs in Kingsville's win. Nash started in the circle and went five innings, allowing just three hits and the game's lone run, which was unearned. Alaniz came in for the final two innings, closing out the win with just one run given up and four punchouts.
The offense took advantage of timely hitting to get runs through on a stingy Blue Tigers pitching crew. After Lincoln scored its lone run of the game in the top of the first, the Javelinas tied it up off the red-hot bat of freshman
Alexis Soliz, who scored
Anabella Ramirez with an RBI single in the third. The very next inning, TAMUK took control of the game with a four-run fourth inning, all of which came across the plate unearned. With four total errors committed by Lincoln, the Javelinas ended up scoring five runs on just four hits.
TAMUK's second game started much like its first, with the team answering every one of its opponent's runs with one of their own, until a late five-run inning from UCCS put the Javelinas away. Soliz started the scoring for Kingsville once again, with an RBI (one of two for her in the game) in the top of the first. While UCCS answered with a tying run in the bottom of the first and a go-ahead run in the second, the Javelinas tied it right back up in the fourth. When the Mountain Lions took the lead back, Kingsville answered once again, taking the lead off of back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth. From there, however, UCCS took over and closed out the game with three runs in the fifth, which finally went unanswered.
Alongside Soliz,
Lindsey Evans, Â
Laney Doelitsch, who came in for three at-bats as a pinch hitter, and
Sophie Campbell each posted a ribbie in the game.
Kingsville will close out its weekend in West Texas with a 9:45 a.m. showdown with Lincoln and a chance to enter Lone Star Conference play against Western New Mexico next weekend with a winning record.
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