This past weekend the Javelina softball team won the Lonestar Conference Tournament with a 3-1 victory over Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMUC).
After the game senior Victoria Schoonard-Saborio said, “Clinching the conference tournament and then the LSC tournament has been so unreal… ending the season with single digit losses was something I never imagined happening… since the first day of fall we knew the potential that we had. We believe in each other and believe what our coaches expected of us even though no one else did.”
The Javelinas started off the tournament facing the No. 19 team in the country, Tarleton State. The Javelinas skunked the Texanns, 5-0, off of a big performance from junior Breanna Smith. She threw a one hit complete game to lead the Javelinas to the conference championship.
The next day the Javelinas faced the No. 3 Lions for the conference tournament championship, with freshman Saidi Castillo in the circle. Castillo struck out five of her first six batters she faced and got the Javelinas rolling. In the bottom of the second, the Javelinas got on the board first with a sacrifice groundball from Jory Cervantes. In the top of the third inning the Lions evened the score with a solo homerun but the Javelinas quickly ended the inning after that. The Javelinas came back in the bottom of the third with a pair of huge hits from the senior duo of Schoonard-Saborio and Roxy Chapa to give the team back a one-run edge. Schoonard-Saborio would also bat in another run sending Loren Kelly across the plate to add to the Javelina lead.
Castillo ended the game with a total of 10 strikeouts in a stellar championship game performance. Castillo earned all-tournament selection along with Schoonard-Saborio, Kelly, Anastasia Leibas and Smith, who was named the MVP of the tournament.
Head coach for the softball team Craig Nicholson was happy with the way his team performed.
“Our pitching and defense were outstanding and that’s how you win in the postseason. We got some timely hits and found ways to take advantage of our chances,” he said.
The Javelinas have clinched the No. 1 seed in the region after their conference win and will be hosting the regional tournament. Come see the girls play for the South Central Regional Title at the Vernie and Blanche Hubert Field. The Javelinas start off facing Oklahoma Christian at 6 p.m. on May 9.
