Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — Thursday morning, St. Mary's Softball learned it had placed six players on the All-Heartland Conference First Team.
Hours later, the ladies went out and showed why.
The top-seeded Rattlers topped No. 4-seed Texas-Permian Basin 4-1 on the opening day of the Heartland Conference Tournament, advancing to the winner's bracket for a “Battle of the Saints” showdown against rival St. Edward's on Friday.
St. Mary's, winners of the Heartland regular-season title, will take on the No. 2-seed Hilltoppers at 11 a.m. at the SAISD Sports Complex. The winner will clinch a spot in Saturday's conference-championship game, while the loser will have to win their way back into the tournament in a 4 p.m. game Friday.
In Friday's other game, Texas-Permian Basin and No. 3-seed Texas A&M International will compete in the loser's bracket at 1:30 p.m.
Against UTPB, designated player
Jared Gonzalez (Sr., San Antonio), going 2 for 3 at the plate with three RBIs in the playoff win.
Nicole Sardelich (So., Angelton, Texas), the Heartland Conference Player of the Year, drove in the Rattlers' other run on a 2-for-4 day.
Maricela Bissaro (Jr., San Antonio), who got the victory in the circle, also had a multi-hit day, going 2 for 2 with a run scored.
The Rattlers looked primed for a big offensive showing early, jumping to a 2-0 first-inning lead on Gonzalez's two-RBI triple to the gap in right-center field. Sardelich drove in another in the second, making it 3-1 for the Rattlers, but they'd have to wait until the fifth to score again.
Bissaro pitched four innings, yielding one run and just three hits.
Vianna Gutierrez (So., San Antonio) pitched the final three innings for her second save of the year.
The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II South Central regional. The Rattlers currently rank fourth in the region. Only the top eight will advance.
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.
