Saturday, April 23, 2016

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS —Katie Ripple homered and drove in a pair of runs, while Kiana Zerr notched her six win of the season. The performances lifted the Eastern New Mexico University softball team (14-42; LSC 5-27) to a 9-3 win in their season finale against Tarleton State. The TexAnns ( 29-26; LSC 12-20) claimed a 10-2 win in the first game of Saturday's Lone Star Conference doubleheader at the TSU Softball Complex.

The victory was Eastern's first over TSU since April 5, 2013, and snapped a 13-game skid in the series. It also marked the fourth time ENMU earned a road win over the TexAnns and the first time since the 2006 season.  Senior catcher Kyra Sirag concluded her career tied with Alex Mayo Otis for the most games played by an ENMU softball player, at 210.

Game 2
Tarleton State plated four runs over the final two innings of the nightcap, and managed to bring the game-tying run to the plate with one out. Zerr got infield pop-flies from Taylor Fitzgerald and Melody Mayse to seal the season-ending win for ENMU.

Eastern sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning and took a 1-0 lead on Mariah Rodriguez's RBI single. The Hounds pounded out five hits in the inning and seized a 5-0 advantage. The TexAnns managed to score in the third inning on a Nyka Wood double, but a two-out RBI double from Sirag in the fourth, followed by a RBI single from Susannah Chandler gave Eastern a 7-1 lead.

Fitzgerald's two-run double in the bottom of the fourth cut into the Greyhound lead, but Ripple homered in the fifth, followed by a Morgan Green RBI single in the sixth inning to give ENMU a 9-3 advantage.

Lauren Powers cracked a two-out, two-run single in the sixth, to pull TSU within 9-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Four of the first five TexAnns reached base to lead off the seventh inning. After a RBI double from Rebekah Allen and a single from Avery Mullendore, Eastern's lead was trimmed to just 9-7, with the game-tying run at the plate. Zerr retired Fitzgerald and Mayse to end the game. Mayse is currently just one of four players in the LSC with at last 70 hits for the season.

Eastern out-hit Tarleton State 12-10 in the game, while five Greyhounds finished with two hits each. Rodriguez hit two for four to close the season on a seven-game hit streak. Ripple batted two for three, scored three runs and drew a walk. Erikka Burke and Sirag both had two hits with a double apiece. In her third complete game of the series, Zerr scattered 10 hits to earn the win.  Shelby Hedrick suffered the loss for the TexAnns in 3.2 innings of work.

Game 1
Erikka Burke's ninth homer of the season staked ENMU to a 1-0 lead, just one out into Saturday's opener. Audrey Velasquez plated Kailee Ramirez in the top of the fifth with a squeeze bunt, to give the Hounds a 2-0 advantage. Zerr had a three-hit shutout going through four innings, but Tarleton State exploded for 10 runs in the fifth inning, and the game ended on Mayse's two-run single.

Sirag paced ENMU's seven-hit attack with a two for three performance, with a double. Mayse led TSU with a three for four performance at the plate, with five RBIs and a home run.  
 
Notes
Over the last eight games of the season, Katie Ripple batted a team-high .450 with an .800 slugging percentage

Seniors Morgan Green and Kyra Sirag both hit safely in their final career at bats, while Marleyna Piñon had a single in the game as well.

In addition to the games-played record, Sirag finished tied for fourth in games started (198), fifth in at bats (623), fourth in runs scored (119), fourth in hits (222), tied for seventh in doubles (35), tied for seventh in triples (7), tied for ninth in homers (14), seventh in RBIs (111), fourth in total bases (313), and fourth in runners caught stealing (27)