SAN ANTONIO – It took extra innings for another game between Eastern New Mexico and St. Mary's to finish. This time, the Rattlers pulled off a 3-2 victory in nine innings.
Just one day after going ten innings against StMU, ENMU softball got itself in another close battle with the No. 19 program in the country.
After two back-and-forth games, the third contest took a fast start as the Greyhounds had four hits, including an RBI single by
Jokaira Paredes to drive in the first score in the top of the first.
The Rattlers answered back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and led 2-1.
Over the second, third, and fourth innings Eastern was unable to get a runner on base and StMU was held to a walk in the third and a base hit in the fourth.
The fifth inning proved to be one of the Hounds best chances to take back the lead as they had two runners in scoring position with just one out. However, St. Mary's got out of the inning with two straight groundouts to the pitcher.
ENMU downed the Rattlers attack with three straight outs and headed to the sixth.
Ashley Nickerson began the rally attempt with a single and
Chanler Groves came in to pinch run for the freshman. Two straight fielders choice groundouts sent Groves to third with two outs.
Aylene Lucero sent a shot to left center for a crucial RBI double to tie the game and the game headed for the bottom of the sixth where Eastern New Mexico did not allow a single base runner.
The Hounds walked once and struckout three times on their side of the frame and used the same dominance in the circle in the bottom half of the inning to send the game to extras.
Both teams got one runner on in the eighth, but the game needed to be sent to another inning to decide a winner.
The Rattlers handled business in the top half of the ninth and went into the bottom of the frame looking to pull off the first win in conference play.
It didn't take them long as they started the effort with two straight singles and a sacrifice bunt to send both runners into scoring position. At this point, StMU got a walk-off single and took the 3-2 result over the Greyhounds.
"We dropped a close game in extra innings, but we continued to fight. We left several runners on base this game and we weren't able to execute the little things in our favor, but overall we had quality at-bats throughout the game and kept pressure on their defense," said head coach
Amanda Fefel after the game. "Winning our first conference series is huge and I hope the team carries this momentum into the next week for our first home series on our new field against in-state rivals WNMU."
The Hounds will play in Portales for the first time this season and unveil the new turf outfield installed this winter. The Mustangs and Greyhounds will play a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday and will complete the series with a 1 p.m. start on Wednesday. The games will also be streamed on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network.
