Hounds drop rubber game against Dustdevils

LAREDO, Texas – Hoping for a doubleheader sweep and a series win to start Lone Star Conference play, Eastern New Mexico University’s softball team couldn’t close out Texas A&M International on Sunday.

In the lidlifter, the Greyhounds routed the Dustdevils 12-3 in five innings on the eight-run rule. They led 2-0 in the sixth inning of Game 2, but International rallied for three runs and won 3-2 when sophomore left fielder Victoria Espinoza threw out ENMU senior Mikenzey Patterson at the plate to end it.

International outhit ENMU 13-9 in Game 2, the only extra base hit coming on a fourth-inning leadoff homer by Hounds junior catcher Samantha Gutierrez, her second of the campaign, to break a scoreless tie. Then Patterson, who went 3-for-4, made it 2-0 in the fifth with a single to drive in senior second baseman Chanler Groves.

ENMU sophomore right-hander Marissa Rodriguez (2-3) scattered eight hits through five innings, but the Dustdevils (4-8 overall) put together their late rally on five singles and a walk. Freshman pinch-hitter Alondra Rodriguez hit a run-scoring single with one out, then sophomore Kennedy Griego and junior Victoria Gonzalez delivered two-out RBI knocks.

In the seventh, Patterson’s two-out hit kept the Hounds (8-3) alive. Senior first baseman Alondra Vasquez then walked before senior designated player Taighen Whitzel singled to left, only to have Espinoza gun down Patterson trying to score.

Freshman right-hander Kylie Goad (3-1) went the distance in the circle for the Dustdevils, with two walks and no strikeouts.

In Game 1, eight ENMU players combined for 12 hits, including two each for Patterson, Vasquez, junior pitcher Emma Southerland and Groves. Vasquez and Whitzel delivered three-run homers, the first of the season for Vasquez and second for Whitzel.

Gutierrez keyed a four-run first against International’s Carla Arellano (0-5) with a two-run single. The Dustdevils pulled to 4-2 on Griego’s two-run double in the third, but Whitzel’s home run and a two-run single by Groves extended the advantage to 9-2 in the fourth.

Vasquez then made it 12-2 with her long ball in the fifth.

Southerland (4-1) worked a five-inning five-hitter, walking two and striking out three.

International 5, ENMU 3 (Saturday) – The Dustdevils scored three times in the first to chase ENMU starter Jordan Rivera (3-1), but Rodriguez was able to keep International at bay over the next four frames.

The Hounds chipped away, closing to 3-2 on Aylene Lucero’s fourth-inning sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Whitzel in the fifth. International added two insurance runs in the sixth, the latter scoring on a two-out error.

ENMU again rallied with two out in the seventh, scoring a run on an error and putting the tying runs on base with two out before senior right-hander Erika Cortez (2-2 retired junior third baseman Meilana Lopez on a fly ball to center.

ENMU outhit the Dustdevils 7-5, with no one on either side collecting more than one hit.

The Hounds had a three-game LSC series at Western New Mexico. They open their home schedule with a three-game set this weekend against St. Edwards, beginning with a 1 p.m. twin bill on Saturday.