Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's opened up Heartland Conference play in softball with a pair of wins over Newman on Friday.
Laura Benavidez's three-run blast powered a 10-1, run-rule victory in Game 1, while
Shelly Lee Zawadzki's bases-clearing double highlighted a 6-2 win in Game 2 at Northside ISD Field.
Pitchers
Emily Brittain (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas) and
Crystal Keller (Sr., LaCoste, Texas) each struck out three to earn wins, with Brittain's Game 1 win moving her season record to 13-2 while Keller's Game 2 victory improved her to a perfect 4-0 on the year.
Benavidez (So., Robstown, Texas) went 1 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs in the opener, while
Haley Richter (So., Hondo, Texas) went 1 for 2 with three RBIs.
In Game 2, Zawadzki (Sr., San Antonio) drove in three runs on a 2-for-3 day at the plate, while
Taylor Vidrine (So., San Antonio) homered to bring in two additional runs.
The Rattlers (23-9) actually trailed Game 1, 1-0, in the first before scoring 10 unanswered runs to end the game in the fifth inning on the run rule. St. Mary's also trailed in Game 2, when the Jets broke open a scoreless deadlock with two runs in the fourth. But St. Mary's stormed back with six runs in the bottom of the frame to get the win.
The teams will wrap up the series at 12 p.m. Saturday at Northside ISD Field.
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.
