SILVER CITY, N.M. — The St. Mary's University Softball team came back in game one at Western New Mexico to win 7-6, while the Mustangs were able to fight off a Rattlers comeback in game two to win 5-3 as the teams split a doubleheader for the second time this season.
All nine spots in the batting order reached base at least once in each game, as the Rattlers (28-21, 20-16) collected 16 hits over the twin bill.
St. Mary's concludes the regular season on Saturday, May 2, at St. Edward's. First pitch is scheduled for Noon.
GAME ONE (StMU 7, WNMU 6)
Senior
Ariella Saenz (Pharr, Texas) improved to 13-7 in the circle and went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI as the Rattlers rebounded after trailing 5-2 through two innings to win 7-6. It is her ninth complete game of the season
Junior
Bryley Westfahl (San Antonio) also recorded a pair of hits out of the leadoff position, going 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, run scored and a stolen base. Fellow junior
Iliana Melendez (Seabrook, Texas) led the team with two RBI, and senior
Abigail Dela Rosa (La Grange, Texas) swiped two more bags, bringing her season total to 15.
Each team scored two runs in the first, while the Mustangs kept it rolling with three more in the second. The Rattlers plated three runs in the fourth to knot the game at 5-5, but the Mustangs immediately answered with one run in their half of the fourth inning. In the sixth, StMU scored two more and the defense locked down to grit out the 7-6 win.
GAME TWO (WNMU 5, StMU 3)
The Mustangs broke onto the scoreboard first, with a run in the bottom of the first, but the Rattlers struck back with a solo home run off the bat of
Izabella Valdez (San Antonio) for the 1-1 tie. StMU took a short-lived lead with a sacrifice fly to centerfield by
Raegan Tennill (Corpus Christi, Texas) that scored
Neveah Hallmark (Pasadena, Texas).
A grand slam for Abbi Markus in the bottom of the fifth gave the lead right back to WNMU, 5-2. The Rattlers took advantage of a pair of Mustang errors to score an unearned run in the top of the sixth, but they left a runner stranded at third for the 5-3 final score.
Senior
Emily Ayala (San Antonio) dropped to 2-8 on the year with the loss after pitching 4 2/3 innings. She gave up five runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Junior
Emery Aguilar (Georgetown, Texas) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, where she surrendered two hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Offensively, the seven hits came off seven different bats, and Westfahl snagged another base for her 31st stolen base of the season.
