Sunday's Pitching Duel Ends in Favor of Central Arkansas

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In the rubber match of this weekend's Southland Conference opening series for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team, Islanders pitcher Liz Carter and Central Arkansas hurler Kayla Gomness battled for seven innings in a one-run affair. The pair combined for 15 strikeouts, allowing three runs on 12 hits.

Despite missing her career high in strikeouts by one, Carter (7-6, 3.69 ERA) took the loss as the Islanders (11-11, 1-2) fell 2-1 to the Bears in the series finale.

RELATED: Box Score

The Islanders opened the series yesterday with a 2-1 win, before dropping the afternoon contest 5-2.

"I thought we played fairly well," head coach Stephanie Hughes said after the game. "In the second and third games, we did not play a full seven innings and that showed on the scoreboard. To see us come out and compete against the defending conference champions was encouraging going into next weekend.

Cater came out firing in the first inning, using just eight pitches to record the first two outs, before catcher Brianne Trost caught UCA second baseman Sarah Bigej stealing. Bigej was a thorn in the Islanders' sides this weekend, reaching base six times on a walk or hit by pitch.

Stranding runners on base has been an issue for the Blue and Green this season, and that theme continued in the series finale. Out-hitting an opponent for the 14th time this year, with an 8-4 advantage on Sunday, the Blue and Green could not translate base runners into runs, as eight Islanders remained on the bags at the end of an inning.

The Bears took the lead in the top of the third on an RBI sac-fly by Briana Whisenhunt, but the defending Southland Conference champions relinquished their advantage in the bottom half.

After a leadoff single by Cosette Hernandez, Candice Hadd tallied her team-leading 11th RBI on the year with a base hit two batters later. Carter returned to the circle in the top of the fourth with a pair of punchouts; however, several miscues by the Islanders righty put the team behind.

UCA first baseman Audrey Pratt singled to right on a 1-1 count, before Carter walked the next two batters. With the bases loaded, the Austin native's 0-2 pitch to Sam Forrest strayed too far inside and caught the leg of the third baseman to plate Pratt.

"Today, Liz had four batters in a row that she probably wasn't as focused as she needed to be," added Hughes. "She came back after that and threw well the rest of the game."

Carter bounced back to strikeout two Bears in each of the final three frames, but UCA's one-run lead was enough for the visitors to take a 2-1 series victory.

In the remaining innings, A&M-Corpus Christi put one runner in scoring position, but they could not plate Mackinzee Griebel in the fifth, after Savannah Sandoval advanced the centerfielder with her first base hit of the year.

Gomness, while not as strikeout-prone as Carter, scattered eight hits, struck out two and did not commit a walk in her fourth win of the year.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE BEARS

Carter's 13 punchouts on Sunday took her weekend tally to 20 on the weekend. The junior has enjoyed some success in the circle when pitching against the Bears. In eight appearances versus Central Arkansas, the righty has fanned 46 batters, while tossing three complete games. 

SERIES NOTABLES

• Carter reached double digits in strikeouts for the fifth time in 2016. Prior to this year, the righty reached that mark just once. Carter passed the 300 career strikeout mark on Sunday. 

• Dani Tefft improved her season average at the plate to a .379 clip, a team high for the Islanders.

• With a pair of hits on Sunday, Cosette Hernandez notched her first multi-hit game of the year, while Candice Hadd improved her team-leading total to four.

ON DECK

The Islanders welcome Texas State to Chapman Field for a game on Tuesday and Wednesday. Last week's contest between the two programs was rained out in San Marcos.