Softball Splits with UCA to Start Southland Conference Play

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The last time the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team met Central Arkansas on the diamond, both squads produced an instant classic that lasted for a school record 13 innings. Islanders pitcher Liz Carter went the distance with seven strikeouts, but the Islanders fell 1-0. On Saturday, the Islanders and the Bears renewed their rivalry with the opening series of Southland Conference play.

Carter (7-5, 3.67 ERA) stepped into the circle on Saturday afternoon, picking up where she left off a last season. The reigning Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week, with help from the defense, stranded a season-high 11 opponents on the base paths, as the Islanders (11-9, 1-1) knocked off Central Arkansas (15-8, 1-1) 2-1 in game one.

While the opening game featured suffocating pitching and defense, the opposite was the deciding factor in the afternoon contest. A pair of errors, four walks and two passed balls by A&M-Corpus Christi gave the Bears a 5-2 win.

RELATED: Box Score Game 1 | Box Score Game 2

"Liz came out in control in the first game," head coach Stephanie Hughes said after the games. "We played great defense behind her for seven innings. In the second game, we needed to play seven complete innings, and we played five. That one inning in the third killed us. When you walk players and commit errors, they're going to score, and that's what happened."

GAME 1, WIN, 2-1

Carter started her conference season off with a dicey situation in the first inning. After loading the bases with no outs, the Austin native downed the next three Bears with a strikeout.

Central Arkansas broke the deadlock an inning later with a pair of singles to take a 1-0 lead. From that point on, Carter dominated in the circle. The Bears managed just two more hits in the final five frames.

The lead for UCA was short-lived. Mackinzee Griebel flew around the bases to score from first on a Megan Mitchell double in the bottom of the third to tie the game.

In the bottom of the fifth, Candice Hadd notched her 10th RBI and second game-winning hit of the year. The Hutto native singled to center to score Cosette Hernandez

Carter capped her ninth complete game of the year by scattering six hits and striking out seven batters, while giving up three walks. Despite 12 baserunners for the Bears, the righty never allowed a scoring threat to affect her performance.

"I just stayed positive," Carter said. "I continued to be aggressive and kept the mindset of not letting them win. I needed to push through the tough times and hit my spots to win."

Shivaun Landeros (9-5, 3.50 ERA) took the loss for the Bears. The Bears starter allowed six hits, one earned run, a walk and tallied two strikeouts.

GAME 2, LOSS, 5-2

Hernandez opened the afternoon game with a leadoff triple. Dani Tefft extended her team-long hitting streak to eight games during the next at-bat with an RBI single. Tefft later came home on a fielding error during Aspen Auger's appearance at the dish.

Stephanie Flores (0-2, 1.56 ERA), who missed several weeks with injury, earned the start for the Blue and Green. The Mercedes native cruised their the opening two innings with a pair of strikeouts.

The Islanders' 2-0 lead vanished in the top of the third. Three walks, an error by Hadd and a passed ball allowed the Bears to tally four runs to establish an advantage they did not relinquish.

Flores was replaced after four innings of work, allowing a single earned run on two hits and four walks, with a season-high six punchouts.

Colleen Bentke (3-3, 4.33 ERA) came on relief for the final three innings to register three strikeouts, but gave up an insurance run in the top of the sixth.

Kayla Gomness (2.61 ERA) went the distance for the visitors to pick up her third win of the year, limiting the Islanders bats to two runs on six hits, without a strikeout or a walk. 

NOTABLES

• Senior Dani Tefft improved her hitting average to a team-leading .381 for the year.

• Mitchell tallied a pair of hits on the day to take her season average up to .220 with three RBI, all coming in the last three games.  

• Cosette Hernandez stole second in the fifth inning of the opening contest. The San Antonio native took the team lead with five this year.

• Liz Carter's seven strikeouts in the fist game of the day took her career tally to 289.

• The Islanders held a 17-12 advantage over the Bears in runners left on base in both games combined.