March 15, 2007
ABILENE – Malissa Magee set a school record with 15 strikeouts, while tossing her third straight shutout, leading St. Mary’s University to a split of a doubleheader against Mesa State University in non-conference softball action Thursday afternoon at Wells Field.
Magee (Jr., Houston) allowed just one hit over seven innings, while topping the old St. Mary’s record for strikeouts in a game by two. Her previous high was 12 in a single game. With the win she improved to 15-5 overall and has won her last four decisions, including the last three by shutout. She now has eight shutouts total this season.
The Rattlers gave Magee all the support she would need in the second inning. Brittany Kettinger (Jr., Azle) reached on an infield single to lead off and was followed by Katherine Chavarria (Fr., San Antonio), who singled to left. The runners were moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt and Kettinger came home when Sade Moore’s grounder was booted for an error. For Chavarria the hit was her first as a collegiate player.
In the fifth the Rattlers broke the game open on a two-run single by Kettinger and a sacrifice fly by Lindsay Magaro (Sr., Elmendorf). The Rattlers scored four runs that inning and Magee struck out seven of the last eight batters she faced to finish things off. The only player to get a hit off Magee in the game was Anita Diaz, who hit a single to center in the fifth to break up the no-hitter.
In the first game the Mavericks scored six runs over the first three innings on the strength of three homeruns and defeated the Rattlers 9-4. In the loss Lindsay Barnes (Jr., San Antonio) smacked her 10th homerun of the season, already the sixth highest total in a single season in Rattler history. Barnes and Kelsey Walker (Jr., San Antonio) each had two hits in the first game.
With the split the Rattlers are now 25-11 overall, while Mesa State is 14-4. St. Mary’s will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Austin to face 21st-ranked St. Edward’s University in a Heartland Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m. The teams will then head south to San Antonio on Sunday for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. at Rattler Field to complete the four-game series.