Box Score
WICHITA FALLS, Texas — St. Mary's Softball opened up the Midwestern State Tournament with a bang Friday — both literally and figuratively.
Vianna Gutierrez's booming, two-run shot in the fifth inning powered the Rattlers past Northeastern State, 4-3, on the opening day of the tournament, held at MSU's Mustangs Park.
The home run — Gutierrez's (So., San Antonio) third this season — reversed the score in the Rattlers' favor after trailing 3-2 going into the fifth.
Emily Brittain (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas) picked up the win for St. Mary's, improving to 7-2 on the year after striking out three and scattering eight hits.
Crystal Keller (Sr., LaCoste, Texas) picked up her first save of the season after pitching two shutout innings in relief.
Gutierrez, the reigning Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week, went 2 for 3 on the day. Center fielder
Hannah Fields (Fr., San Antonio) also drove in a run.
With the win, St. Mary's improved to 16-7 on the season, while Northeastern State fell to 5-4.
The Rattlers will resume tournament action with a pair of games Saturday, starting with a 3 p.m. tilt against host Midwestern State prior to a 7 p.m. game against Abilene Christian.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
