April 21, 2012

Final Stats

UT-Permian Basin edged Texas A&M International University 2-1 in Heartland Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Dustdevil Field on the TAMIU campus. It was the regular season finale for both teams headed for the Heartland Conference Tournament, which will begin Thursday in either San Antonio or Austin.

Senior Samantha Carrillo drilled a solo home run to dead center field in the bottom of the second inning to stake TAMIU (18-35, 8-7 Heartland) to a 1-0 lead on Senior Day. Behind the strong pitching of Sarah Johnson, the Dustdevil lead would last until the sixth inning.

The bottom of the sixth started with two outstanding defensive plays by the Dustdevils, a snag of a line drive by junior shortstop Alexis González and a diving catch on liner headed to the gap by left fielder Esmeralda González. That's where the trouble began for the home team.

Johnson allowed back-to-back walks before catcher Nicky Salazar's throw to second base to keep the runner close went wide into the outfield, allowing one UTPB runner to tie the score and the other runner to race to third base. Leslie Ericson then laced a RBI double by the left field line to give Falcons a 2-1 lead.

UTPB (16-30, 7-8) relief pitcher Tomie Ellard took control at that point, retiring the last six Dustdevil batters she faced to pick up the win. She allowed five hits with one strikeout and no walks in a 5.0 inning shutout effort.

Johnson (7-10) was the hard-luck losing pitcher for the Dustdevils. She allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 6.2 innings of work.