Christian Meza
Sports Editor
Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s softball team played in four home fixtures at “The Park” at St. Mary’s University. The Jaguars took on their conference contenders, Our Lady of the Lake University Saints, March 22 and the University of Houston-Victoria Jaguars March 25.
Both matchups resulted in A&M-San Antonio losses, extending their slump to a six-game losing streak. With an upcoming eight-game conference road trip, the A&M-San Antonio Jaguar softball team looks to flip the script for their group.’
Jags’ pitching struggles lead to near shutouts
Defending National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics softball champs, the OLLU Saints started this contest against the Jaguars with an emphatic statement, scoring three runs in the first inning off a home run.
Sophomore designated player Kaylee Barlow doubled to get on base and scored a run at the bottom of the first inning with the help of her teammates Jordyn Henry, Kristianna Luerra and Samara Aguilera.
After what seemed like a highly competitive start to the game, the Saints’ 3-1 lead quickly became insurmountable. After the first inning, the Saints scored eight unanswered runs, including a grand slam.
The final score for the first contest of a doubleheader against the Saints resulted in an 11-1 Jaguar loss. Despite the large deficit, both teams finished the match with six hits each. The differences in the game were in the pitching efforts.
The winning pitcher for the Saints was sophomore Ava Hernandez, who allowed one run and struck out six Jaguar batters. Hernandez, one of the top leaders in the Red River Athletic Conference in average of earned runs allowed, wins and strikeouts.
Three Jaguar pitchers threw over the course of the contest, giving up two home runs off six hits and seven bases on balls. The pitching rotation also had eleven errors while facing 23 Saints at-bats.
(Bases on balls or BBs, are walks to 1st base)
“We weren’t throwing to them…they were making us throw to them,” Limon said.
Unfortunately, the Jaguars were not able to claw back to even the series in the second game, as the Saints continued offensively, taking advantage of another porous Jaguar pitching performance.
In both contests, veteran Jaguar pitchers Morgan Gutierrez, Alexis Obregon and Ryanne Limon could not prevent the Saints from extending the lead. Freshman pitcher Kate Martin nor Barlow were able to stop the pitching wounds at the mound for the Jags.
The Jags allowed 15 runs scored off of 16 hits and 14 runs batted in for the Saints. This resulted in a 15-1 Jaguar loss.
A&M-San Antonio drop Jaguar v. Jaguar clash
The Jaguar versus Jaguar showdown started evenly, with neither team scoring in the first three innings.
RRAC stolen base leaders Barlow and Luerra attempted to strike first on the board for the Jaguars by successfully stealing bases to start the game but were unsuccessful in scoring.
Barlow has 30 stolen bases recorded on the season and Luerra has 18 stolen bases on the season.
After the first inning the two teams were at a stalemate until the top of the fourth where Houston-Victoria managed to score the one and only run of the game.
Junior Ashlyn Weinert attempted to rally A&M-San Antonio late in the contest to tie the game. Weinert singled and was able to reach third base after two ground outs. A&M-San Antonio’s potential comeback was cut short with a final ground out, losing the contest 1-0.
The first season meeting for these squads on Feb. 25 ended the same as a 1-0 A&M-San Antonio loss.
Limon was the losing pitcher for this game, although only allowing three hits compared to Houston-Victoria’s junior pitcher Audrie Sayas, who allowed seven hits to A&M-San Antonio batters.
“That first game was literally just a repeat of our first game, so just seeing it all unfold again kinda sucks,” Limon said. “We should’ve been out here hitting the ball well because we’ve seen that pitcher already.”
In their following meeting of the double-header, both Jaguar teams picked up the pace in the batters’ box, combining for 21 total hits. The catfight went back and forth throughout the game as both teams were in a tight battle heading into the closing innings.
Barlow and Luerra again led the way for TAMUSA offensively, scoring a total of four runs off of four hits.
Heading into the sixth inning of the game, A&M-San Antonio held a 5-4 lead over Houston-Victoria.
At the top of the sixth inning, the UHV Jaguars scored five runs off of two A&M-San Antonio fielding errors to pull away at a crucial point in the game.
“The errors came back to bite us,” Henry said.
The A&M-San Antonio Jaguars managed to score two late-game runs, yet still fell 9-7 to UHV, losing the season series. The Jaguars’ overall record now drops to 13-19 and 6-8 in conference play.
The next Jaguars’ softball home game will be at noon and 2 p.m. in a doubleheader against the Texas A&M-Texarkana Eagles April 11 at “The Park” at St. Mary’s University.
