Corpus Christi - After inclement weather delayed the matchup until the evening, and changed the venue, the Texas A&M - Kingsville softball team dropped a pair of hard-fought games, 6-1, 3-0, to No.20 Oklahoma Christian at Tuloso Midway field.
The Javelinas struggled to produce offensively, scoring just one run on eight hits across the doubleheader. Both games became pitching duals, as the team's freshman pitching duo combined to hold the No.20 team in the country to just eight earned runs. Ultimately, timely two-out hitting from the road team, however, gave them the win.
Kingsville put just two hits on the board in game one, but left nine baserunners stranded. Freshman right hander
Arianna Alaniz pitched a complete game, giving up 11 hits and five earned runs while striking out six. The Javelinas got their first and only run of the game on a sac fly from senior second baseman
Sophie Campbell, who scored junior outfielder
Seleste Compian from third. A three-run homer from the Eagles in the seventh, however, put the game away for good.
The team tripled its hit count in the second game, but left all 10 of its baserunners aboard in a wild, down-to-the-wire finish. Freshman left hander
Esther Martinez was stellar, allowing just one earned run heading into the seventh inning, when Grace Anderson reached on an error and drove home a run in the third. With the seventh inning, however, came chaos. The TM softball field lights turned off just before the first pitch of the frame, leaving the game in pitch darkness for roughly 15 minutes. Once the lights came on and the game began anew, a pair of controversial calls kept the top of the seventh going and situational hitting from Oklahoma Christian game its crew two insurance runs. While the Javelinas worked a pair of walks in the bottom of the final frame, they came up just short, striking out with the tying run in the box.
TAMUK will be back in Kingsville on Sunday for a doubleheader against Cameron, with first pitch set for noon.
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