SAN ANTONIO – The No. 13 ranked Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team split a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon against the St. Mary's Rattlers. The Lions took game one by a score of 6-1 and fell in five innings by a score of 9-0 in game two.
 
The Lions are 33-11 overall after Sunday's split and 18-6 in Lone Star Conference play, which puts them in fourth place and two games out of first place, which is shared by UT Tyler and Oklahoma Christian. Four of the final six conference games for the Lions come against the Eagles and the Patriots. The Rattlers are 32-11 and 16-8 in LSC play, being in seventh place.
 
"Emily pitched like Emily does in game one and we hit like we are capable of hitting, which was great to see," said interim head coach Gay McNutt.  
 
"We have to get some run production for Alyssa, and she has to help herself at the plate as well. Our defense shut down late in the game as well. We will get beat when all those things are not going well."
 
GAME 1: No. 13 A&M-Commerce 6, St. Mary's 1
The Lions left five runners on base in the first two innings. Through three scoreless innings, the two combined to strand 10 runners.
 
MacKenzie Dugi (St. Hedwig – East Central) drew a two-out walk in the fourth and went on to steal second base. Madison Schaefer (Frisco – Independence) drove in Dugi with an opposite field one-run single.
 
The Lions added five runs in the fifth inning on four hits. Ayanna Williams (Round Rock – Cedar Ridge) and Alyssa LeBlanc (Katy) went yard back-to-back to lead off the inning, with a pitching change in between.
 
AYANNA WILLIAMS HOME RUN HIGHLIGHT
 
ALYSSA LEBLANC HOME RUN HIGHLIGHT
 
After a strikeout, Alina Jasso (San Benito) was hit by a pitch and Sabrina Anguiano (Riverside, Calif.) got on base via a double to left. Jasso scored on a fielder's choice hit by Uxua Modrego (Burlada, Spain) and both Anguiano and Modrego scored on a opposite field double to left by Dugi.
 
Amber Gonzales scored the lone run for the Rattlers in the seventh inning. She led off the inning with a walk and scored on a triple by Victoria Aldridge, who had three of the five hits by the Rattlers.
 
The only blemish on Emily Otto's (Lamar Consolidated) ledger was the run in the seventh inning. She improved to 16-3 on the season with a complete game, allowing five hits and four walks, while striking out two. The Lions had seven hits in the game, and they were spread over seven batters.
 
Jadyn Abrego allowed just two runs in four innings, but got charged with the loss. She gave up four walks, four hits, and struck out four.
 
GAME 2: St. Mary's 9, No. 13 A&M-Commerce 0 (Five Innings)
The Rattlers plated three runs in the first inning. Cassidy Mageors led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on a single up the middle by Jayme Johns, who came around to score on a single by Bari Christian. Abigale Carney hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Rebekah Hubecak.
 
Outside of Schaefer's leadoff double in the first, the Lions did not have another baserunner for the rest of the game.
 
A fielding error and an infield bunt single, where the Rattlers just beat out the throw, put two on with no outs in the fifth for St. Mary's. Johns collected another RBI with a base hit to center that scored Mageors. Christian singled to drive in Johns.
 
A lengthy delay of over 20 minutes followed as medical professionals tended to the home plate umpire, who suffered an injury after taking a foul ball to the face. The umpire is doing much better after not returning to the game following the play.
 
After the delay, Carney hit a two-run single and advanced to second on a fielding error. Gonzales homered to left for a walk-off two run home run.
 
LeBlanc drops to 11-6 on the season, she was charged with six earned runs on nine hits, one walk, and a hit batter. She punched out two. Catalina Cavazos, the conference's leader in wins and ERA, threw five shutout innings with just one hit. She is 17-1 on the season and struck out six.   
 
UP NEXT
The Lions are off next weekend for Easter. They return to action on April 20 at 3 p.m. against Henderson State, beginning a six-game homestand, which are also the final six regular season home games of the season.