Bloom Shines in Heartwrenching Loss for Softball

SAN ANTONIO – Sophomore Madeline Bloom locked down a potent offense for St. Mary's Softball on Saturday, but unfortunately the Rattlers lost 2-1 in the series finale against West Texas A&M.
 
Bloom retired the final 19 batters of the game, not allowing a hit after the third batter of the game. She allowed one earned run on two hits with two walks and one strikeout. She needed only 77 pitches to get through seven innings of work and 27 of those came in the first frame. 
 
The Rattlers (23-17, 13-14 Lone Star Conference) collected one run on four hits with all four hits coming from different batters. Junior Ericka Gomez (Stafford, Texas) was on base twice, drawing the only walk for the Gold & Blue and singling up the middle to start the fifth. Sophomore Jamison Holder (Magnolia, Texas) had the lone extra-base hit of the day with her double down the left field line in the sixth.
 
West Texas A&M (32-4, 23-4 Lone Star) scored two runs on two hits with a Rattler error in the first inning.
 
In the fourth, sophomore Kaylynne Ruiz (Eagle Pass, Texas) was hit by a pitch and freshman Abigail Dela Rosa (LaGrange, Texas) came into pinch run. Dela Rosa stole second and caught the Lady Buffs defense off kilter, stealing third with no one covering the bag so she scampered home to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
 
The Rattlers had base runners in six of the seven innings, stranding six throughout the day.
 
The team heads to UT Permian Basin for a Thursday-Friday series in Odessa. Game one on Thursday is set for 3 p.m.