BEAUMONT, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team could not salvage a win in the final game of its weekend series with Lamar on Saturday afternoon, hanging in early but going cold offensively and falling by a final score of 9-0 in five innings.
The Islanders (10-29, 4-11 SLC) had a couple chances to get on the board in the opening frame, getting a single from
Zoey Stewart to lead off the game and a walk by
Jada Zepeda two batters later against Cardinals (24-15, 11-4 SLC) starter Kaylee Cuevas. Neither of these could string into a rally in the first, though, as Stewart was caught stealing right after reaching and Zepeda was taken off the basepaths with a double play that ended the inning.
On the other side, Lamar capitalized on its early chances, scoring one in the bottom half of the frame and two in the second to stake its claim to the early lead. After these hiccups, though, A&M-Corpus Christi settled things down on the mound for a bit, with starter
Mackenzie Durr stranding a pair of runners with no damage in the third and
Kendra Winfrey coming in and doing the same in the fourth.
While this was going on, the Islanders once again threatened during their time at the plate in the third, getting their first runners in scoring position of the day. After a strikeout to start the inning,
Taylor Reyes got things going with a double, and Stewart would follow this up by getting hit to place two aboard. A productive groundout by Zepeda right after moved Reyes and Stewart to second and third with two outs, but a flyout in the next plate appearance cut off this rally before it could really get cooking.
This would turn out to be A&M-Corpus Christi's last chance of the day, as the team would end up going down in order in both the fourth and the fifth right after. The Cardinals would then break through with their own bats once again, scoring sixth in the bottom of the fifth to bring the game to its run-rule finish.
The Islanders will now continue conference play at home next weekend, hosting McNeese for a three-game series that starts on Friday at 4 p.m. and continues with a doubleheader on Saturday.
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