SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Beginning a critical series to control their Southland Conference tournament destiny, Lamar University's softball team struck first in the battle of Cardinals' by taking game one against the University of Incarnate Word. Six innings into game two, play was postponed due to weather and both Cardinal teams will finish the contest tomorrow with LU up 3-1.
Behind six first inning runs, the Cardinals erupted for an early knockout five-inning victory of 9-0 in game one.
Aaliyah Ruiz allowed four hits and walked one batter to get the win. This marks nine straight starts in which she has allowed three or fewer runs and also her ninth win on the season. On offense, eight different Cardinals each got a hit as
Brooke Davis drove in three RBI while
Cameron Niedenthal drove in two runs and
Kaylee Ancelot homered.
Game 1: LU 9, UIW 0 (5 Inn.)
From the opening pitch, Big Red burst out of the gate scoring six runs. After loading the bases with nobody out, Niedenthal drove in two runs with a single to center scoring Garza and Bean. Freudenberg followed with an sacrifice fly to left that scored pinch runner Mitchell. Following a UIW pitching change, LU loaded the bases on a
Felixia Hinojosa single and all three runners came in to score as Davis cleared the bases with a triple. After one, it was 6-0 LU.
In the second inning, Ancelot sent one to left field to extend LU's lead to a 7-0 lead. UIW threatened to score in the third inning as they loaded the bases with two outs. But Ruiz would get the last out on a pop-up to Davis to retire the side. Big Red tallied two runs in the fifth inning as after hits by Ancelot and Freudenberg,
Audry Fleming singled to score Ancelot's pinch runner
Kalyn Xayaseng. Then on an throwing error by the catcher, Freudenberg scored on the play to make it 9-0.
Game 2: LU 3, UIW 1 (Suspended in the 6th)
With two outs in the first inning, Ancelot homered for her second homer of the day. But UIW responded in the bottom of the first with a solo homer. In the second inning, a pair of LU errors put two UIW runners on base. But again, Ruiz settled down and was able to escape the jam.
The score stay tied at one until the top of the sixth inning when Nicki Ramirez drew a walk and was lifted for
Kalyn Xayaseng. After
Mikaila Kenney doubled to advance the runner to third, Davis reached on an error to score Xayaseng and give LU a 2-1 lead. With the bases loaded, Eliza Garza drew a walk to extend LU's had to 3-1.
And that was when the game was halted due to the incoming storms. LU will resume the second game tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. As soon as that game is finished, both teams will begin game three afterwards.
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