COMMERCE, Texas - The St. Mary's Softball team dropped a doubleheader on Sunday as the No. 6 Texas A&M-Commerce Lions defeated the Rattlers, 8-0 and 5-3 at the Cain Family Softball Field. St. Mary's falls to 16-16 overall on the season and 11-9 in Lone Star Conference play.
Game One Recap
The Rattlers offense struggled against the Lions pitching, recording just two hits while striking out 10 times in the game.
The Lions broke the game open in the third inning, scoring five runs on five hits.
St. Mary's had their best scoring chance in the fourth inning as
Jayme Johns singled to left and moved up 60 feet on a
Victoria Aldridge walk with no outs in the inning. The next three batters went down on strikes to end the Rattlers threat.
Texas A&M-Commerce added a run in the fifth to make it 6-0.
Johns recorded her second hit of the game in the sixth inning with a single up the middle but Johns would be stranded on base. In the home half of the inning, the Lions plated two runs to end the game via the eight-run rule.
Alex McLennan provided 1.2 inning of scoreless relief for the Rattlers, striking out two batters.
Game Two Recap
The St. Mary's offense came alive in the second game of the day as the Rattlers scattered 12 hits. Five players recorded two hits in the contest.
Johns got things going in the first inning as she singled up the middle and moved up on an Aldridge bunt single.
Bari Christian loaded the bases with a single to left field, bringing
Abigale Carney to the plate. Carney recorded the sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Johns. Aldridge tagged on the play, putting runners at second and third with one out. After Christian stole second,
Tiffany Licon singled to right field, allowing Aldridge to score, giving the Rattlers a 2-0 early lead.
A solo home run in the bottom of the inning cut the Rattlers lead in half. The Lions plated a run in the second and three in the third to take a 5-1 lead over St. Mary's.
Julia Cruz came on in relief and kept the Rattlers in the game, throwing 3.2 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and striking out four.
Licon and
Alex Moreno led off the fourth inning with back-to-back singles. After a flyout,
Alyssa Flores singled to left field to load the bases.
Lauren Garcia came on to pinch hit and went down on strikes, bringing the Rattlers hottest hitter to the plate in Johns. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Johns grounded out to second base, ending the inning with the bases full.
In the fifth, the Rattlers got their first two aboard in Aldridge and Christian. After a Texas A&M-Commerce pitching change, the Rattlers went 1-2-3, leaving two more runners stranded.
St. Mary's loaded the bases again in their final at-bat but only scored one run, leaving the bases loaded for the second time in the game. The Rattlers stranded 11 runners in the loss.
Up next for the Rattlers will be UT Tyler on Tuesday, April 20 in Tyler, Texas.
