SAN ANTONIO – It took a hard-fought ten inning game for Eastern New Mexico to beat No. 19 St. Mary's, 3-2, in game one of the doubleheader versus the Rattlers. In the second contest of the day, ENMU used a five-run rally in the seventh inning to win, 5-3.
Game 1
The Greyhounds struck first off a
Valeria Contreras double down the leftfield line scoring
Brook Leger in the second inning.
In the bottom half of the frame, StMU scored the equalizer off a sacrifice fly.
The score remained 1-1 all the way into the tenth inning, but what it took to get there is the true story.
Coming into Friday night, Rattlers ace Catalina Cavazos had started six games, completing five of them. She also had 31 strikeouts and a 1.44 ERA.
Brook Leger was leading the conference with 37 strikeouts and six total wins.
Both proved why they are some of the better pitchers in the Lone Star Conference by going pitch-for-pitch for ten innings.
ENMU got runners in scoring position in the top of the fourth, but a Cavazos strikeout got her team out of the Greyhound threat. Again, in the top of the fifth, the Hounds put runners on the corners with one out and the Rattlers once again left Eastern without a run scored.
Over the final three innings of regulation, St. Mary's left seven runners on base.
The fifth saw players on first and second for the Rattlers with one out, but a foulout to third base and a flyout to centerfield helped move the game forward. In the following frame, runners on the corners with two outs gave StMU another chance to break the 1-1 tie, however another flyout to center moved the game into the final inning of regulation.
With bases loaded and two outs, the Rattlers were just 60 feet away from earning a walkoff victory. Leger had just thrown two walks in the frame, but that didn't bother her as she put down the St. Mary's batter on strikes and the game moved into extras.
"I think I was able to stay composed pretty well," said
Brook Leger after the Greyhounds win. "Game one was a full team win as everyone on defense and the dugout was all in."
Both teams had a runner in scoring position and a hit in the eighth inning, but both team's continued to pressure each other and moved the game into the ninth inning.
In the frame, ENMU went three-up, three-down. St. Mary's also could not convert on another scoring chance as they had a single with two outs in the bottom half of the ninth.
The tenth proved to be the difference maker on day one of LSC action. The inning began with a popup for
Alondra Vasquez. One out. Aylene followed that with a groundout. Two outs. With one out remaining before turning the side back to StMU, ENMU got a handful of momentum plays.
Ashley Nickerson reached base on a four-pitch walk.
Chanler Groves came into the contest as a pinch runner. On the next at-bat, a
Jokaira Paredes single advanced Groves to third and now runners sat on the corners.
Leger had the hit of the game as she sent a ball to right field with enough space to score Groves and move Paredes to second. An error by the Rattler's third baseman helped ENMU tack on an insurance run and send the game into the bottom half of the inning.
StMU did break its scoring drought in the tenth, but it was not enough as Eastern New Mexico came away with its first win in San Antonio in program history, 3-2.
"It's never easy being on the road and taking two from a ranked opponent, but our hitters came in clutch throughout both games," said head coach
Amanda Fefel after the wins. "Our dugout stayed up all game with several different players coming in and contributing to our success."
Leger finished the day with a career-high ten innings pitched and became one of five ENMU pitchers to ever throw ten or more innings in a game. The senior tallied four strikeouts and only allowed two runs. Her final pitch total – 193.
"
Brook Leger did a phenomenal job keeping their lineup off balance and using her defense to get outs," said Fefel on the senior's record performance.
Vasquez and Leger each had two hits for ENMU offensively.
Game 2
After a lengthy ten inning game, the Hounds set themselves to win the series with a victory.
St. Mary's scored first in the game off a three-run fourth inning.
Emma Southerland picked up the start for Eastern and she dominated over the first three innings of work before giving up the three runs in the frame.
In relief for Southerland was
Taylor Harrison who "came in and got us out of a jam" according to Fefel. She did help her team control StMU's charge to plate more runs by striking out two batters and sending the game into the fifth trailing 3-0.
The Rattlers' pitching continued to be a menace for ENMU as the Hounds put runners on first and second, but could not pull through any runs.
Delia Smith came into pitch for Eastern in the fifth. The junior transfer allowed the first two hitters to reach base, but three outs later and she got her team out of another difficult situation.
Eastern New Mexico got a double from
Ashley Nickerson in the sixth, but StMU was able to keep the visitors off the scoreboard heading into the final frame of regulation.
Then, the Hounds began a late-seventh inning rally to shock the Rattlers.
St. Mary's kept starting pitcher Madeline Bloom in the game and ENMU broke through for the first time all game.
Aylene Lucero got the rally started for Eastern as she hit a hard ball down the third base line just outside the reach of the StMU fielder.
Mikenzey Patterson continued the action with a slap to the shortstop eventually trickling into shallow left field to put the runners on first and second. The first run of the night came on a RBI single courtesy of
Valeria Contreras. At this point, St. Mary's went to their bullpen and called on Savannah Youngblood to finish the inning.
The new pitcher forced a quick popup and ENMU had two outs to work with.
A
Jennifer Gress six-pitch walk got the bases loaded for Eastern.
Azalea Martinez sent a deep shot to left field and the speedy Patterson was able to score on the sacrifice fly.
Now Eastern was down to its final out and trailing, 3-2.
Junior
Alondra Vasquez got down early in the count, 1-2. She took a ball, 2-2. Youngblood sent an offspeed pitch on the outside corner and Vasquez was able to tip it foul. On the next pitch she sent a ball between first and second to score two runs as the right fielder overthrew the toss to the catcher. Eastern New Mexico now led 4-3.
For the second inning in-a-row,
Ashley Nickerson hit a double. This time, an RBI double to score the eventual game winning run.
"I was looking for something to hit hard to give my team a chance," said Nickerson after the game. "I knew the pitcher had to come to me so I was only attacking something I knew I could drive."
A pitching change for St. Mary's wasted no time as three pitchers later, the Rattlers sent the game into the bottom of the seventh.
The leadoff hitter reached on an error at right field for StMU, however that did not phase Smith as she got the ensuing three batters to fly out, foul out, and pop up. The victory marked the first for Smith as a Greyhound.
"I was definitely nervous going in, but I knew I had to flip a switch so that I could play to the best of my ability and I took a breath and then I was in my zone," said
Delia Smith after the game. "I just kept telling myself 'One pitch at a time. Let them hit, defense has your back. Trust yourself and let the ball do the work.'"
The 5-3 victory earned ENMU a series win over No. 19 St. Mary's going into the final game Saturday afternoon.
The win also marked the first non-neutral site win for Eastern New Mexico over the Rattlers. The last victory came on Valentine's Day in 2016 when the Greyhounds beat StMU in Canyon, Texas, 11-6.
