Errors Costly on Day One of NCAA Softball Regional

TYLER, Texas — The St. Mary's University Softball team didn't allow any earned runs but four costly errors, three of which came in the third inning where third-ranked UT Tyler scored all five of its runs, put the Rattlers in the loser's bracket of the NCAA South Central Regional with a 5-2 loss.
 
Junior Jadyn Abrego (San Antonio) took the hard-luck loss. She pitched 2 2/3 innings, surrendering only five hits to one of the top-hitting teams in the nation. All five runs were unearned and she walked only one to move to 6-8 on the season. Fellow junior Madeline Bloom (Poway, Calif.) gave up only one hit, with one walk and one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings. 
 
Five different Rattlers (32-25) each had one hit, as they had one less than the Patriots (49-8) on the day. Both Abrego and senior Reba Reyes (Brownsville, Texas) recorded an RBI and Abrego had the only extra-base hit of the entire contest with her double to right-center.
 
"We had some defensive mistakes that allowed (UT Tyler) to score their runs," said Head Coach Donna Fields. "(Our pitchers) kept them off balance. It's one thing when you're giving up doubles to UT Tyler, that's their name, but grounders to shortstop and second base – it's hard to beat a team that's only lost eight games all year when you have those type of mistakes and we fell short due to it."
 
In the fifth inning with one out and trailing 5-0, junior Lauryn Ramos (Marion, Texas) reached on a throwing error by the shortstop that went into the Rattlers dugout, placing her on second. With two outs, sophomore Raegan Tennill (Corpus Christi, Texas) walked and Reyes singled up the middle to score Ramos for the 5-1 score.
 
With one out in the sixth, senior Mackenzie Dugi (St. Hedwig, Texas) sent a single back up the middle and she scored on a double to the gap in right-center off the bat of Abrego. Dugi was originally called out at the plate, but after an umpire's meeting, it was determined the tag was not applied, cutting the deficit to three, 5-2.
 
"I knew that just because I came out as the pitcher, I still had a role in helping my team out," Abrego said. "When I was at the third at-bat, I knew I was looking for something – I knew I was looking for a curve ball because it was a strike every time and I was able to hit it."
 
Bloom retired eight straight batters from the final out of the third through the sixth before walking Michelle Arias, but she worked out of the jam and kept the Patriots off the scoreboard.
 
Prior to first pitch, the seniors on the roster were honored for their work in the classroom as they will miss graduation ceremonies this weekend. Dugi, Ericka Gomez (Stafford, Texas), 
Lauren Gonzales (San Antonio), Reyes, Sara Robertson (Lorena, Texas) and Destiny Salinas (San Antonio) all have earned their bachelor's degrees.
 
"We have to have the confidence and the belief that we can do it," Fields concluded. "When you make the mistakes – it's something you can fix – and I have a lot of confidence in our defense. Our infield is solid, it just was not a good day for us and if we come out and win all three aspects of the game, we'll take care of business. We've got to trust each other and have that belief to know we've got what it takes to get the job done."
 
The Rattlers will play the second game on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m. They will face the loser of the Colorado Mesa vs. Colorado Christian game.