SAN ANTONIO - No. 5 Texas A&M International University softball (24-31) dropped the opening game of the 2019 Heartland Conference Championship by a score of 6-5 to the No. 4 seeded Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals (30-17) on Thursday morning.

In the first inning, Lindsey Smith (3-for-4, 3 RBI) broke the scoring ice on a single through the left side off of Lady Chaps starter, Jordan Wehr (W, 12-5: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 2 ER, K, 0 BB) that brought home 2019 Heartland Conference Player of the Year, Maddison Schofield (2-for-4, 3 R).

The Lady Chaps quickly responded in the home half of the first inning by compiling a three-run inning off of Dustdevils starter Sara Caterson (L,9-10: 0.0 IP, H, 3 R, ER, 3 BB) walked K'leigh Arredondo while the bases were loaded to give them a 2-1 edge. In the middle of the next at-bat, Megan Darling would cross the plate on a wild pitch by Dustdevils relief pitcher, Denise Longoria (ND: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 K, 2 BB) to extend Lubbock Christian's lead to two (3-1).

In the bottom of the second frame, the Lady Chaps put together their second-straight three-run inning that was sparked by an RBI single to right field by Alivia Villarreal and was capped off on a single to center field by KK Lopez-Liu that brought home Darling to give Lubbock Christian a five-run lead (6-1).

Head Coach Scott Libby called on Miranda Martinez (ND: 3.2 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) to pitch in the bottom of the second inning. Martinez put together a masterful performance in relief to keep the Dustdevils in the game as she silenced Lubbock Christian's offense as she retired seven-straight Lady Chaps.

Smith tried to lead a rally and continued her phenomenal day at the plate by hitting an RBI single in the top of the third inning. She followed that up by smacking an RBI double and drove home Schofield for the third time in the game to cut the Dustdevils' deficit to three (6-3) in the top of the fifth inning.

Following the double by Smith, the next hitter Morgan Chavarria hit a single that concluded Wehr's day in the circle. Amber Carlton (SV: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K, 0 BB) entered the game but couldn't slow down the Dustdevils' bats as Heather Ruiz hit a single up the middle and brought home Smith on a throwing error by the center fielder, Savannah Wysocki (2-for-4, R) to make it a 6-4 game. Erin Mosley (2-for-3, RBI) grounded out to second base but it allowed Chavarria to score and bring TAMIU within one run after the road half of the fifth (6-5).

The Dustdevils could not complete the comeback and fell by a final score of 6-5.

The Postgame Press Conference featuring Head Coach Scott Libby, Maddison Schofield and Lindsey Smith can be found here.  

The Dustdevils will continue the Heartland Conference Championship against No. 3 Rogers State (33-22) tonight, May 2 at 6:30 p.m. from the Softball Stadium at The Park at St. Mary's.