Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ENMU junior catcher Samantha Gutierrez tries to corral the ball as St. Mary's senior Mackenzie Dugi slides in with a run during Saturday's Lone Star Conference and regular-season softball finale at Greyhound Softball Field. The Rattlers took the series two games to one after handing the Greyhounds a 9-0 setback.
It certainly wasn't the way Eastern New Mexico University's softball team wanted to end the regular season.
Now the Greyhounds will see if they can bounce back when they open play as the No. 10 seed in the 10-team Lone Star Conference tournament at Canyon, Texas, facing seventh-seeded Texas Woman's (25-28) in the opening round at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
It's the second consecutive year and just the fourth time in program history that the Hounds (25-25, 18-24 LSC) have reached the LSC tournament.
St. Mary's claimed the final series of the campaign on Saturday at Greyhound Softball Field, posting a 9-0 win in a game which ended after six innings on the 10-run rule.
ENMU won its first four games this season, and until Saturday had stayed above the .500 mark.
The Hounds collected eight hits against Rattlers junior right-hander Madeline Bloom (7-7), but couldn't find a way to get on the board. It's the fifth time they've been blanked this season.
Bloom, who gave up a three-run, first-inning homer to senior third baseman Alondra Vasquez and then blanked the Hounds the rest of the way in a 5-3 win on Friday, allowed eight hits with four walks and five strikeouts on Saturday is tossing her second shutout of the spring.
The Rattlers (31-23, 26-16) struck for a run in the first, then made it 3-0 on a two-run single by senior second baseman Ericka Gomez in the third. Freshman Gabriela Banda delivered a pinch-hit, two-run, ground-rule double in the fifth and St. Mary's added four in the sixth, including a two-run single by senior right fielder Mackenzie Dugi.
Senior left fielder Lauren Gonzales, junior catcher Jamison Holder and Gomez each had two of the Rattlers' 11 hits. Senior shortstop Valeria Contreras had the Hounds' only extra-base hit, a double, and led the team at the plate with 3-for-3 while senior right fielder Mikenzey Patterson went 2-for-4.
ENMU committed four errors in the contest, and three of St. Mary's runs were unearned.
Earlier this month, ENMU went 1-2 against Texas Woman's in a series at Denton, Texas. The winner of Thursday's matchup will take on second-seeded Texas-Tyler (46-7) in a 3 p.m. (MDT) quarterfinal on Thursday.
Semifinals are scheduled for 3 and 6:30 p.m. (MDT) on Friday, with the championship game at 1 p.m. (MDT) on Saturday.
