Denton - On a day where its offense struggled to drive in runners, the Texas A&M - Kingsville softball team came up just shy of sweeping its doubleheader series with Texas Woman's, winning game one 2-0 before falling 4-3 in game two.

Freshman right hander Arianna Alaniz threw a complete game shutout, her third of the season, to get the Javelinas their win in game one, while Kingsville rallied late in game two, pulling within one in the top of the seventh but falling just short.

The team's record moves to 16-13 and 11-7 in Lone Star Conference play ahead of a road Sunday doubleheader with No.1 UT-Tyler at 1 p.m..

The two runs scored in game one both came off of one hit, when graduate student outfielder AJ Jasso went yard, dropping a two-run bomb in the fourth to break the game's scoreless tie. From there, Alaniz and the TAMUK defense held it down. Alaniz threw five strikeouts and allowed three hits and three walks. Though she did allow eight baserunners, she got herself out of multiple jams, keeping a 0 on the scoreboard.

Kingsville's five hits in the game each came from different bats, with no single Javelina posting a multi-hit game. With that being said, graduate student outfielder Lindsey Evans was a perfect 1-1 with two walks, including one that came just before Jasso's homer.

Game two saw TWU jump out to an early lead, scoring the game's first three runs in the first two innings. All were earned coming off of freshman left hander Esther Martinez, who pitched all six innings, allowing five hits and four runs in total. As the third inning began, however, the Javelinas settled in on both sides of the ball. Martinez was strong the rest of the outing, allowing just one more run (in the fourth), and striking out four.

One of the team's other Martinez, sophomore DH Dakota, took matters into her own hands offensively. She shot a solo bomb into left field in the fourth to start the Javelinas' scoring in the game. Then came the rally in the seventh, which saw TAMUK score a pair - one off of an RBI single from freshman third baseman Alexis Soliz, and one off of an RBI single from Evans, before the Pioneers closed out the game with a one-run victory.

Senior catcher Victoria Mosqueda posted the Javelinas' only multi-hit game of the day, going 2-3 and scoring one of the seventh-inning's runs. 

Kingsville's matchup with the Patriots on Sunday is the final road doubleheader for the team before eight straight games at home.
  Read Full Article