Softball Suffers Another Crushing Loss

CANYON, Texas — For the second-straight day, the St. Mary's University Softball team saw a lead slip away late at #2 West Texas A&M, falling 11-10.
 
It is the first time all season the Rattlers (19-17, 14-10 Lone Star Conference) have been swept in a series though two of the three games were decided by a lone run.
 
St. Mary's scored in every inning but the final one, building a 10-3 lead before the Lady Buffs (30-3) scored eight unanswered runs.
 
Senior Lauren Gonzales (San Antonio) got the Rattlers started on the right foot, hitting an inside the park home run on the third pitch of the game to left-center field. The Lady Buffs took a short lead with two runs in the bottom of the first.
 
Senior Reba Reyes (Brownsville, Texas) reached on a fielding error to begin the second inning. Senior Ericka Gomez (Stafford, Texas) moved her to second on a groundout. Freshman Gabriela Banda (San Antonio) drew a walk and the final pitch was wild, allowing Reyes to scamper to third. Junior Lauryn Ramos (Marion, Texas) tripled to the gap in right-center, clearing the bases and giving StMU the 3-2 advantage. With one out, Gonzales singled to the shortstop, plating Ramos for the 4-2 tally.
 
In the third, sophomore Raegan Tennill (Corpus Christi, Texas) singled between the shortstop and third baseman for a single, junior Jamison Holder sacrificed her to second and she flew to third on a wild pitch. Reyes walked and on a ball off the bat of Gomez, the Lady Buffs elected to hold Tennill at third, loading the bases. Tennill scored on a pop out by Banda, and Reyes came home on a throwing error by the second baseman for the 6-2 score.
 
With two outs in the fourth, senior Mackenzie Dugi (St. Hedwig, Texas) walked and came around to score on a single to left with an error by Tennill. 
 
Reyes doubled to left to lead off the fifth inning and Gomez beat out a bunt for a single to put runners on the corners. Banda grounded out to the second baseman, but advanced both runners for a six-run advantage, 8-2.
 
WT scored one in the bottom of the fifth to pull within five, 8-3. Dugi doubled to begin the sixth, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single to left by Holder. Holder advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single to short by Gomez.
 
Two doubles, a single and a home run by the Lady Buffs cut the lead to three, 10-8 in the sixth and they used another double and home run in the seventh for the 11-10 victory.
 
Gonzales, Tennill, Gomez and Ramos all had two hits for the Rattlers, while Gonzales, Banda and Ramos each had two RBI and Reyes scored three times. 
 
The Rattlers used four of their five pitchers in the game. Sophomore Breanna Ford (Corpus Christi) was in the circle to start, while junior Savannah Youngblood (Kingwood, Texas) worked 4 1/3 innings in relief. Senior Sara Robertson (Lorena, Texas) worked 1/3 of a frame and junior Madeline Bloom (Poway, Calif.) took the loss in the final 1 2/3 innings. She falls to 3-6 with the loss. 
 
St. Mary's returns to host UT Permian Basin beginning on Thursday at 3 p.m.