Cameron eliminates Zias from shot at LSC tourney

LAWTON, Okla. — Cameron manufactured a fifth-inning run with four walks and held off Eastern New Mexico University 4-3 on Friday, completing a doubleheader sweep which clinched the final spot in next week's eight-team Lone Star Conference softball tournament for the Aggies over the Zias.

Cameron (16-30, 9-17 LSC) took the opener 11-3 as freshman third baseman Sonora Zukerman drove in five runs with a pair of homers. By clinching the series, which ends with today's 11 a.m. (MDT) regular-season finale, Cameron eliminated the Zias (14-41, 6-20) from tournament contention.

Center fielder Leslie Martini led off a three-run Aggies second with her ninth home run of the season in the nightcap. Cameron added its other runs on a Micah Foutch sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Claren Hurlbut off ENMU freshman Mary Jo Granger (6-9).

The Zias had only one hit off Samantha Betts (12-14) though four innings, but pulled to 3-2 in the fifth on a run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Hannah Tush and a sacrifice fly by Lizzy Velasquez.

The Aggies got one back in the bottom half, though, when Granger issued two walks before reliever Albie Medina walked Martini and Zukerman to make it 4-2.

The Zias closed to 4-3 in the sixth on singles by Erica Armendarez and Medina and Marley Pinon's sacrifice fly. They put runners at the corners in the seventh on two-out singles by Beatriz Caporal and Velasquez, but Betts got Kyra Sirag on strikes to end it.

In the opener, Zukerman's first home run, a three-run shot off Amy Smith (1-4), capped a five-run Cameron first. The Zias pulled to 5-3 in the third on a leadoff homer by Jacqueline Candelaria and a two-out, two-run shot by Armendarez, but Butts allowed only one hit and one walk the rest of the way.

Zukerman hit a two-run shot, her 11th of the season, in Cameron's three-run fifth and the Aggies ended it on the eight-run rule in the bottom of the sixth on Sonia Foutch's sacrifice fly.