COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team will face Cameron in a three game series over the weekend. The contests will be the first conference home games for the Lions this season.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (12-5, 2-1 LSC) vs. Cameron (16-5, 5-1 LSC)
WHERE: John Cain Family Softball Complex in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Friday, March 3 at 6 p.m., Saturday, March 4 at 1 and 3 p.m.
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TICKETS: http://lionathletics.com/sports/2016/12/13/2017-softball-ticket-information.aspx
The Lions are coming off of wins in both games of their doubleheader against St. Edward's on Tuesday. The wins broke a three-game losing streak for the Lions. Head coach
Richie Bruister was pleased with how his team responded to the losses.
"It's good to get back on the winning side of things–a winning streak as we say," Bruister said. "That second one started a winning streak for us. We were excited to be on that end of things after Saturday."
After his team lost two games to No. 3 St. Mary's on Saturday, Bruister talked about his team getting right back to work and improving. He felt one thing in particular needed to change.
"The improvements were confidence wise," he said. "We were talking and telling them that even though we played bad on Saturday, we were still in the ball games. We know when we start playing well that good things are going to happen for us. That's what we saw. We relied on our pitching and our defense and it showed up for us on Tuesday. We had some great defensive plays. It was fun to watch out there. I was really excited to see how they played."
The Lions won in two different ways on Tuesday. In their first win, the Lions scored seven runs on eight hits. In the second game, the Lions could only muster two runs on three hits but won in a shutout. Bruister likes how his team can win in multiple ways.
"You want a well-balanced team," he said. "I was obviously excited about
Courtnee Jones and her performance. She has been working really hard to get back to where she was from her high school and junior college days. Her hard work really paid off. To throw a complete game shutout against St. Edward's was wonderful for her. I'm very proud of her. And the defense behind her was just great. That's what you want.
Bruister knows in both games, the results came down to the little things. He liked the way his team played defense, especially in the second game, and how the team limited mistakes.
"In a close ball game, it's who makes the errors and who doesn't," Bruister said. "We played great behind Courtnee and turned three double plays in that game. In our game, you don't see a lot of double plays because everything is so short. To be able to do that is truly remarkable and exciting. You don't get to see those a lot as fans but we got to see it on Tuesday."
The Lions now face Cameron in a three-game series. The Aggies are 16-5 on the season and have two Lone Star Conference series under their belts. Bruister is impressed by what Cameron brings to the table but feels his team will matchup well.
"The pitching is right there with ours," Bruister said of Cameron. "Hopefully we can get on them and put some runs on the board and make them throw a lot of pitches and make them work hard out there. That's what we will be working for this week. They have a well-balanced offense as well. But we think we've got some key people on defense that should give us an advantage against them. And then our pitchers have got to get it done and the defense has to show up and play."
As is one of his catch phrases, and that of most coaches, Bruister gave one key to his team being able to come out on top.
"If we score more runs than them, we will win," he said with a smirk.
