SAN ANTONIO – The ACU Wildcats dropped a pair of close games Monday at the St. Mary's Softball Classic to finish their opening weekend at 1-3.
The Wildcats lost to Lone Star Conference South Division rival Angelo State, 15-11, before dropping a 6-5 decidion to St. Mary's. ACU will return home to host the Whitten Inn Classic on Friday and Saturday. First pitch of the tournament starts at 10 a.m. each day and the Wildcats will play at Wells Field each day at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Here's a recap of each of Monday's games:
Angelo State 15, ACU 11: A nine-run sixth inning allowed Angelo State to erase an eight-run ACU lead and knock off the Wildcats, 15-11, Monday afternoon.
Shelby Hall rebounded from a loss on Sunday to pitch a solid outing, but came up short.
ACU got on the board in the first when Valentina Nabayan continued to swing a hot bat driving in
Tiana Tuinei who singled to lead off the game.
In the top of the second ACU would build an eight-run lead when Briana Fowlkes tripled to lead off and would later score on a single from Tuinei that also scored
Erin Gilliland.
Melissa Mendoza would drive
in Tuinei on a single to center. The ninth hit would come from
Lyndi Smith, who drilled a two-RBI single to the left field gap scoring
Megan Brigance and Nabayan.
After batting around in the second ACU would tally a blank in the third before adding three more runs on three hits in the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Mendoza and Nabayna would allow Brigance to
sacrifice Mendoza home and reach on an error. Smith would double recording her third and fourth RBIs when Nanayan and Brigance both scored. However, the Rambelles would shutout the Wildcats as their bats woke up in the fifth and sixth innings.
ASU would ease closer with a single run in the fifth, but a nine-run outburst in the 6th would propel the Rambelles to an undefeated finish in the tournament. ASU would finish as the only undefeated team at
the St. Mary's Classic over the weekend.
St. Mary's 6, ACU 5: In the nightcap, ACU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when
Ashley Calles singled to the gap in rightfield scoring
Megan Brigance and
Candice Miller. However the Rattler pitching staff was stingy, allowing five runs from four different pitchers on 10 hits by the Wildcats. Calles would add another RBI in the sixth when the Wildcats strung out four hits and plated three tying the game at 5-5.
St. Mary's would gain a runner on second in the extra innings due to the international tie breaker rule in effect for the tournament. After reaching on a fielders' choice, Sarah Lee drove in the winning
run on a single up the middle.
