ABILENE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning of game two to rally back for an 8-7 victory and post a doubleheader split with Abilene Christian on Friday. ACU knocked off the Islanders 6-3 in game one of the double-dip.
Brittney Morse went 4-for-6 in the doubleheader for the Islanders, including a solo home run and a pair of doubles to lead the offense.
The two teams will wrap the weekend series on Saturday at noon. Live stats and video will be available at ACUSports.com.
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GAME 1: ABILENE CHRISTIAN 6, ISLANDERS 3
Taylor Brown and Brittany Barnhill each went 3-for-4 to lead ACU to a 6-3 win over the Islanders in game one of the doubleheader. The Wildcats came from behind in the win, overcoming a 3-0 Islanders lead on the strength of a four-run third and Barnhill's two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth.
Emily Seidel picked up the win for ACU, allowing five hits and two walks in the victory. Julia Montoya came on to post a perfect seventh to collect her second save of the year for the Wildcats as well. Liz Carter was carded with the loss, surrendering 11 hits in her six innings of action, with four of the six runs she allowed being earned.
The Islanders jumped on top of the Wildcats early in the contest, plating a pair of runs in the top of the first. Cosette Hernandez got things going with a leadoff double, but Seidel bounced back to get the next two hitters. A&M-Corpus Christi mounted a two-out rally, though, as Morse laced an RBI double to left center for a 1-0 lead. Jessica Mendez followed, and on the very next pitch sent a single through the left side to plate Morse for a 2-0 advantage.
The visitors added to their advantage in the top of the third. Dani Tefft started things with a one-out single up the middle, and she moved up 90 feet by tagging up on Mickayla Cochran's long fly ball. Morse then hit a grounder back to the pitcher, but her throw sailed high and Tefft came around to make it a 3-0 lead.
But the Wildcats came roaring back with four runs in the bottom of the third. ACU registered six hits in the frame and another runner reached on an error. Peyton Hedrick delivered an RBI triple in the frame, and the final blow came on an RBI infield single by Melissa Rodriguez, as the home squad took its first lead, 4-3. The following inning, the Wildcats got two more runs on a two-run homer by Barnhill that made it a 6-3 advantage.
At that juncture, both teams settled down in the circle, shutting down the opposing offenses. The Islanders had a strong opportunity in the top of the sixth, with a single and a hit batter starting off the frame. Two groundouts followed, but a walk loaded the bases with two away. But Seidel bounced back and got the next batter to strike out, ending the threat.
GAME 2: ISLANDERS 8, ABILENE CHRISTIAN 7
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored five runs in the top of the seventh to post a come-from-behind, 8-7 win over the Wildcats in game two. Morse went 3-for-4 with two RBI while Carter had two hits and a pair of RBI of her own in the victory. The Islanders smashed a season-high 17 hits in the victory.
Carter collected the win in relief, surrendering five hits and one walk in three shutout innings to collect her 11th victory of the season. Katie Blanar threw four innings in the circle, giving up seven runs (four earned) in four innings on eight hits, but collected a no-decision. Montoya was carded with the loss, having surrendered 17 hits and eight runs, seven earned, in the defeat.
Seven different Islanders had multi-hit games in the win, including a 3-for-4 performance from Cochran and two hits each from Hernandez, Mackinzee Griebel, Hayley Galloway and Tefft.
Heading to the seventh down 7-3, the Islanders got things going quickly. Cochran started things with a single and Morse promptly followed by ripping a double to center. After a Mendez flyout, Carter helped her own cause by crushing a double to left center, scoring two runs to make it 7-5. Galloway followed with an infield single to put runners at the corners, but a strikeout brought Tefft to the plate with the Islanders down to their final out.
Tefft responded quickly, sending the first pitch she saw up the middle to plate Carter and send Galloway to third to make the score 7-6. After Tefft swiped second, Hernandez beat out an infield single and the throw got away, allowing both Galloway and Tefft to score to put the Islanders up 8-7. In the bottom of the seventh, the Wildcats got a pair of infield singles with two away, but Carter slammed the door with a flyout to end the game.
Earlier in the game, Morse put the Islanders on the board with a solo home run in the second to put the road squad ahead 1-0. But ACU scored one in the third and three more on a bases-clearing double in the fourth to make it 4-1.
Morse added another RBI in the fifth, doubling home Griebel to cut the deficit to 4-2, but the Wildcats got a solo homer from Barnhill and a two-run shot from Kaleigh Lightsey to push the lead to 7-2. The Islanders cut it to 7-3 in the sixth on a Tefft double and a Hernandez RBI single before the final-inning heroics.
