Commerce, Texas –
December Rivers drove in six of the 19 runs and had four of the five extra base hits for the Lions in A&M-Commerce's nonconference twinbill sweep of Southern Arkansas, 10-6 and 9-7, Tuesday night at the John Cain Family Softball Field to lift the Lions to 25-23 on the season.
After having the games delayed an hour and 42 minutes due to weather in the area,
Aundria Zunigia-Romero started the Lion offense in the bottom of the second of game one with a leadoff single.
Johnna Sturm reached on an infield single, and
Tyler Oppenheim walked to load the bases.
Baylea Higgs plated the first run of the game with a walk.
Monica Cherry kept the scoring going with a single to right center driving in Sturm. After fly out to right and a run when
Kylene Hatton scored Oppenheim on a fielder's choice,
Luci Ponce hit into a fielder's choice to third and the Muleriders forced the out at the plate. On the double play throw attempt to get Ponce at first, Cherry, who started on second, never slowed down rounding third and scored on the play. Rivers followed with a two-run double down the right field plating Ponce and Hatton on the play. Zunigia-Romero drove home the final run of the inning with a single smashed to the left center field to give the Lions a 7-0 after the dust settled.
A&M-Commerce manufactured a run bottom of the third when Oppenheim reached after getting hit by a pitch. Higgs moved Oppenheim to second with a sac bunt, and Oppenheim swiped third to move 45 feet closer to home. Cherry laid down perfect sac bunt to score Oppeneheim and to give the Lions an 8-0 lead.
However, Southern Arkansas strung together five hits and scored four runs aided by two Lion errors to cut into the deficit. With the bases loaded, Chelsea Ivy singled to left to bring home Darian Harris, who reached on a single to right. The ball was bobbled in left allowing Courtney Hudgins to score from second on the play. The throw to plate was high and allowed both runners to move to second and third with no outs. A&M-Commerce starter,
Courtney Moore, settled in to strand the runners at second and third after a fly ball out to first, a strikeout swinging and groundout to short to end the frame.
The Muleriders continued to chip away at the Lion lead with two runs in the sixth inning. Ashton Atwell singled in a run, and Sarah Higginbotham drove a run home on a ground out to second to trim the lead down to 8-6. The Lions tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the sixth inning following Rivers' second RBI double of the game and an RBI single off the bat of Zunigia-Romero.
Zunigia-Romero, who came on in relief in the sixth, allowed one hit in the sixth but retired the side to pick up her first save of the season. Moore worked five and a third innings to pick up her fourth win of the season. Abby Weaver was saddled with the loss for the Muleriders after allowing seven runs in an inning and two thirds.
Offensively for the Lions, Rivers exploded with two doubles in four trips to plate. She also drove in a team-high three runs. Zunigia-Romero went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI to go along with her save in the circle.
In game two, Rivers started the scoring again, this time she smacked a single to right to drive in
Magen Lynch, who led off the bottom of the first with a walk.
Ivy knotted the game up at one with solo home run to left field in the top of the third, but the Lions answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs highlighted by a Higgs RBI single to give A&M-Commerce a 4-1 lead.
Ponce pushed the lead out to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer launched over the second fence in left field, and in the fifth Lynch plated a run to extend the margin to six runs, 7-1, with an RBI single to center.
Southern Arkansas scored its final run in the top of the sixth on a Harris RBI single to center, but Rivers answered for the Lions with a two-run line drive shot over the center field fence for her fifth and sixth RBI of the day.
The Muleriders mounted a furious seventh inning comeback plating four in the inning sparked by a Harries two-run double, but Moore came back on in relief and closed out the game for the 9-7 Lion win while earning her fourth save of the season.
Zunigia-Romero picked up her 12th win after six innings of work. She allowed nine hits and struck out six in the win. Moore entered with the bases loaded in
Chancy Williams took the loss for Southern Arkansas after three innings of work. She allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits.
Rivers paced the Lions at the dish with a 3-for-4 performance including a home run and a double. She also drove in three runs. Ponce was 1-for-2 with her home run and three runs scored.
A&M-Commerce will travel to Harding for a doubleheader Thursday with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m. followed by a return trip by the Bison to Commerce for the 2015 inaugural season finale at 1 p.m. Saturday. Saturday's doubleheader will be Fan Appreciation Night with attendance to the two-game set free of charge.
Fans can follow all the action from the 2014-15 season on www.LionAthletics.com, through twitter @Lion_Athletics and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LionsAthletics.
