Friday, April 22, 2016
STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS — Junior second baseman
Audrey Velasquez paced the Eastern New Mexico University softball team (13-41; LSC 4-26) with a four for seven performance with two doubles over Friday's Lone Star Conference doubleheader at Tarleton State. The TexAnns (28-25; LSC 11-19) overcame a strong start from ENMU's
Kiana Zerr to win the opening game by a 3-2 score, before sweeping the doubleheader with a 14-0 win in the nightcap at the TSU Softball Complex.
Velasquez extended her hit streak to five straight games, while
Katie Ripple saw her seven-game hit streak snapped in the nightcap.
The Eastern New Mexico University softball team will conclude the series and the 2016 season on Saturday with another doubleheader at Tarleton State. The first game is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. MT.
Game 1
Tarleton State's Melody Mayse drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the first inning, stole second and third base, before she scored the opener's first run on a double from Nyka Wood. Ripple led off the Greyhound third inning by driving a single up the middle, before she score the tying run on a two-out error.
The score remained tied at 1-all until
Susannah Chandler drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning, to force in Ripple from third to give ENMU a 2-1 lead. Zerr held the TexAnns to just one run on two hits through five innings, but Wood led off the TSU sixth with a game-tying solo homer to left-centerfield. She also retired the first two batters of the Tarleton State seventh inning, before three straight hits gave the TexAnns a walk-off win on Katelyn Conlee's walk-off RBI double.
Eastern held a 9-8 edge in total hits for the game. Ripple hit two for three, while Velasquez and
Erikka Burke each batted two for four. Zerr allowed three runs on eight hits. Hayley Freyman allowed one earned run and struck out six batters to earn her 22
nd win of the season for the TexAnns.
Game 2
Velasquez led off the nightcap with a double to right centerfield, but the TexAnns struck for a run in the bottom of the inning. Ripple induced a ground out from Rebeka Allen to escape a bases-loaded jam and stay within a single run. Tarleton State exploded for nine runs in the second inning and pulled away for the win. The contest ended after Eastern's at bat in the fifth inning, due to TSU holding a lead of more than eight runs.
Velasquez hit two for three with a pair of doubles, while
Morgan Green and
Mariah Rodriguez both singled. Mayse had three hits for the TexAnns, while Lauren Powers drove in four runs.