SAN ANTONIO - No. 5 Texas A&M International University softball (25-31) rallied for a 3-2 victory (8 Inn.) over the third-seeded Rogers State University Hillcats (33-23) on Thursday evening. With the victory, the Dustdevils remain in contention in the 2019 Heartland Conference Softball Championship.
Dustdevil starter Jenika Lombrana (W, 12-13: 8 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 8 K, BB) had a stellar day in the circle and threw complete game number 17 on the season, but Allie McFetridge (3-for-3, RBI) brought home Tailee Reding on an RBI single to left field to give the Hillcats a 1-0 advantage in the road half of the third.
TAMIU had an opportunity to score in the bottom of the fifth inning when Heather Ruiz and Erin Mosley hit back-to-back singles, respectively, off of Hillcat starter, Andrea Morales (L, 24-13: 7.2 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 2 K). However, the rally was stopped on a diving catch by RSU left fielder, Reding, who then threw the softball to second baseman Jaylan Gibson to complete the inning-ending double play.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Hillcats added another run when Abigail Taylor drove in Taylor Malett to give them a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dustdevils started to ignite a rally as Maya Paul (3-for-4, R) hit a leadoff double and was immediately followed by a single up the middle by Morgan Chavarria (2-for-4, RBI, R) to cut the TAMIU deficit to one (2-1). After the Chavarria single, Maddison Schofield smacked a game-tying single up the middle to knot the game at two apiece and ultimately send the game into extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Smith proved to be clutch as she smacked a two-out walk-off solo home run over the center field fence off of Morales to give TAMIU a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Hillcats.
The Postgame Press Conference featuring Head Coach Scott Libby, Lindsey Smith and Jenika Lombrana can be found here.
The Dustdevils continue the 2019 Heartland Conference Championship tomorrow, Friday, May 3 as they take on the No. 1 St. Mary's University Rattlers (30-24) from the Softball Stadium at The Park at St. Mary's at 2:30 p.m. from San Antonio, Texas.
