CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Liz Carter struck out seven and allowed one earned run, while
Lacey Boyd smacked a home run in the third inning to lift the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team to a 5-4 win at Chapman Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Islanders (6-20, 1-5) strung together nine hits with one defensive error on the afternoon. Carter recorded seven punchouts for the seventh time this season. The Austin native went the distance for her fifth win of the year and scattered eight hits with one walk.
Savannah Sandoval had a career day going 3-for-4 with two runs, while
Mackinzee Griebel and
Candice Hadd added two hits apiece.
"I'm proud of our team and excited for them," head coach
Blake Miller said. "They keep working and grinding everyday, and it's starting to pay off. Liz stepped up for us in the circle and our hitters came up solid. They started taking some hacks. It was good to get the win in front of our home fans."
Northwestern State opened quickly with a trio of runs in the first inning. The Lady Demons put runners on the corners and one out for Kaylee Isenburg to clear the bases with a double. Jordan Rains followed that up with an RBI single.
Corpus Christi made sure the large lead was short lived, as the Blue and Green scored a pair on a throwing error by the Lady Demons in the bottom of the first.
Candice Hadd laced a grounder to the shortstop and forced an errant throw to first that allowed
Mackinzee Griebel and
Savannah Sandoval to score on the play.
Boyd gave the Islanders the lead for good in the third with her two-run shot to left.
Liz Carter reached first on a walk, before the rookie hammered the first pitch of her at-bat over the fence.
"Coach has kept telling me to hit the ball hard," Boyd said. "It was a good line drive over the fence. I saw the pitch that I wanted to hit and did what the coaches have been telling me to do."
Aspen Auger gave the Blue and Green the needed insurance run with an RBI single in the fourth. The Austin native lined the first pitch of her at-bat up the middle to score Sandoval from second.
The Lady Demons made it interesting in the seventh. Julie Rawls moved two runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, after back-to-back leadoff singles. Kellye Kincannon brought the visitors within one on a sac fly and moved the tying run to third. Carter fought off a nine-pitch at-bat by Brittany Jones for the final out, as Auger snagged a liner to third.
Northwestern State pitcher Katelyn Boles (4-8) exited the game after Boyd's homer and took the loss after 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, two earned. Mikayla Brown came in for the final 3 2/3 frames, allowing one run on five hits with two strikeouts.
Defensively, the Islanders committed fewer than two errors for the 16th time this year.
BIG ROAD WEEK
The Islanders face two road swings this week. Corpus Christi will travel to Prairie View on Wednesday for a doubleheader, before the weekend series at Abilene Christian.
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- Go Islanders -
