PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico softball team finished up their 2019 non-conference schedule with two losses on Tuesday afternoon at Lubbock Christian by final scores of 13-3 and 3-2.
The Hounds finish the season 0-4 against the Lady Chaps and 4-8 against non-conference opposition for the year. Eastern New Mexico struggled to get going in game number one and fell behind early 6-0 before eventually losing by way of run-rule after just five innings of play.
Eastern played their most complete game in their previous three tries against the Lady Chaps in game number two, limiting Lubbock Christian to just eight hits and three runs. Senior
Hanna Gary threw all six innings for the Greyhounds and consistently found ways to keep a potent Lady Chap offense in check, allowing just three earned runs over the course of those six innings of work.
Lubbock Christian scored a run in the bottom of the third and two runs in the bottom of the fourth to jump out to a 3-0 advantage before the Greyhounds struck with two runs in the top half of the fifth inning. Senior
Karina Moreno led off that solid fifth inning with a single and was quickly advanced over to second thanks to a sacrifice bunt from senior
Lauren Likes.
Moreno advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a fielding error from the Lady Chaps shortstop with two outs after sophomore
Kayla Marshall put pressure on the Lubbock Christian defense by putting the ball in play. Junior
Elysa Rodriguez continued to make Lubbock Christian pay for the fielding mistake with a single to left field that scored Marshall from second base.
Sophomore
Jennifer McElroy advanced to third after Moreno advanced to first base on a dropped third strike in the top half of the sixth with the Greyhound trailing just 3-2, but couldn't find a way to cross home plate as the potential tying run. Eastern New Mexico finished up the game with three straight outs in the top of the seventh despite the effort from Gary to keep the Hounds in the ball game, falling by a final score of 3-2.
Eastern New Mexico will return to Lone Star Conference play this weekend against West Texas A&M for a three game series scheduled to begin on Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Greyhound softball field.
