The No.2 Javelina softball team went 3-1 over the weekend at the McGhee-Hawkins Invitational, extending their record to 9-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day one in Arkadelphia saw the Blue and Gold pick up their seventh victory of 2020 with a 6-1 victory over Ouachita Baptist before collecting their first defeat in an 8-1 loss to Mississippi College. TAMUK returned to winning form on Sunday with decisive victories over Christian Brothers University (CBU) and Henderson State University (HSU), 6-0 and 9-0, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Catcher Matisen Onofrei kicked things off against CBU with a two-run rocket over the centerfield wall. Half-an-inning later, CBU answered on a wild throw and a fielder\u2019s choice, tying the score at 2-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the third, Onofrei drove a ground ball to short, allowing sophomore Amber Reyes to cross the plate and pick up the 3-2 lead for the Javelinas. Reyes would score again in the fourth after stealing second and coming across following a gapper by junior Loren Kelly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sophomore Jory Cervantes sealed CBU\u2019s fate with a two-run line drive to center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senior Breanna Smith would pick her fourth win of the season, giving up only two hits after the second inning. The San Antonio-native threw all seven innings, walking only three batters and fanning four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly led the attack at the plate, racking up three hits in five at-bats and driving in one run. Onofrie went 1-3 with a homerun and three RBI\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with Javelina Athletics, coach Craig Nicholson praised his team\u2019s defensive efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur pitching and defense were really good today. We stranded some runners early in game one, but then were able to have some good at-bats with runners in scoring position late in both games,\u201d Nicholson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first four innings against Henderson State showed off a pitching duel between sophomore Saidi Castillo and HSU\u2019s Mallory Brewer, neither pitcher allowing a single run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings, the Javelinas loaded the bases in the fifth and called on junior Anastasia Leibas. Leibas slapped a Texas-leaguer into right, allowing Reyes and pinch-runner Anika Barbosa to cross the plate. Onofrei followed with a double, sending sophomore Yvonne Castillo home and giving TAMUK the three-run lead. Belton-native Sydney Andrews scored the inning\u2019s final run on a Cervantes groundout, extending the Javelina lead to 4-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly catalyzed a Blue and Gold rally in the seventh, swatting a single, stealing a base and scoring TAMUK\u2019s fifth run on an HSU-error. The Javelinas loaded the bases, and junior Claire Chernosky ripped her first career grand slam over the right-centerfield wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saidi Castillo only allowed four hits in her third win of 2020, allowing no runs and striking out six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leibas was perfect at the plate, going 3-3 with two RBI\u2019s and a walk. Chernosky, Onofrei and first-baseman Makenzie Mays each added two hits of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Javelinas return to action on Valentine\u2019s Day in Tuscon, Ariz., where they will take on the Wolves of Western Oregon at 10 a.m. before a 12:30 p.m. matchup with the Bisons of Dixie State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The No.2 Javelina softball team went 3-1 over the weekend at the McGhee-Hawkins Invitational, extending their record to 9-1. Day one in Arkadelphia saw the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[149],"class_list":["post-3693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"authors":[{"term_id":149,"user_id":5,"is_guest":0,"slug":"iliana-flores","display_name":"Iliana Flores","avatar_url":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/d795bba6b7b8b7647d12b35cafdaf989.jpg?ver=1776215706","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3694,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions\/3694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}