Saturday, February 25, 2017

PORTALES, NM —With a second inning bunt single in Saturday's Lone Star Conference series finale against Tarleton State (11-8; LSC 3-3), Cameron Conrad extended her hit streak to eight consecutive games. The single was one of the eight hits the Eastern New Mexico University softball team (9-13; LSC 4-2) pounded out, but the TexAnns pulled away for an 11-3 win at Greyhound Softball Field.

Tarleton State edged the Hounds 2-1 in the series, after the Greyhounds rallied from a late four-run deficit to win the series opener in extra innings, on Friday. The Hounds will return to action on Tuesday, for a non-conference doubleheader at New Mexico Highlands. The first game will begin at noon.

The game was a pitchers' duel until the TexAnns took advantage of an error, with back-to-back RBI singles from Savannah Stech and Megan Durante to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Tarleton State capitalized on another ENMU error in the following inning to push their lead to 6-2.

After a one-out walk to Kamalani Peneku in the bottom of the fourth, ENMU got on the board with back-to-back singles from pinch hitter Tiana Faagalulu and Ashley Lopez. Tarleton State pitcher Jordan Withrow escaped a bases-loaded one-out jam to prevent the Hounds from further cutting into the deficit.

The TexAnns plated five runs over the final two innings to pull away for the win. Eastern brought two more runs across the plate in the sixth frame, on a RBI double from Susannah Chandler, who scored one batter later on a single from Samantha Brockman.

Kaylee Rogers went the distance and allowed six earned runs, with five strikeouts. Withrow pitched four innings to earn the victory for Tarleton State, while Haley Freyman earned the save with three innings of relief. Brockman batted two-for-three in the game and hit a team-best .444 over the three-game series.