March 24, 2007
San Antonio – Malissa Magee tossed back-to-back shutouts, including her first no-hitter of the season, while Kelsey Walker and Lindsay Barnes each hit homeruns to lead the offense, as St. Mary’s University rolled past Texas A&M University-Kingsville, 4-0, 2-0, in non-conference softball action Saturday at Rattler Field.
Magee (Jr., Houston) completely dominated the Javs in the second game of the doubleheader. She retired the first 18 batters of the game, before issuing a leadoff walk to Joanna Dorado in the seventh inning. However, she struck out Megan Hall and Quesha Torres to end the threat and the game. The no-hitter was the third of Magee’s career and her first seven-inning no-hitter. She struck out nine in improving to 18-7 this season. The shutout was her 10th of the season.
Magee was nearly matched by Javelina pitcher Nora Aguilar, but she made one mistake and it cost her and the Javelinas the game. Mary K Pederson (Jr., Houston) walked to lead off the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. That brought up Kelcy Walker (Jr., San Antonio), who smashed a 1-2 offering from Aguilar over the wall in left for a two-run homerun. That was the only Aguilar would allow in the game. She retired 20 of the next 21 batters to finish the game. Aguilar fell to 14-5 on the season with the loss. She struck out eight and walked two.
In game one the Rattlers used the long ball and Magee’s strong pitching to take a 4-0 win. In the bottom of the first inning Walker took a 3-2 pitch from Natalie Jones and sent it 30 feet over the wall in dead centerfield to give the Rattlers an early 1-0 lead. Two innings later an error helped the Rattlers increase that lead. With one out Pederson lined a double to the wall in left. Sarah Cooper (Jr., Houston) moved Pederson to third with a sacrifice bunt. Walker followed with a walk. That brought up Barnes (Jr., San Antonio), who looked to be out when she popped a ball into foul territory. But Torres dropped the ball and two pitches later Barnes sent Jones’ offering well over the wall in left, giving the Rattlers a 4-0 lead.
From there Magee took over, settling down after a slow start, to allow just five hits and one walk, while striking out six over six innings of work. Brittany Kettinger (Jr., Azle) tossed a scoreless seventh to wrap up the shutout.
Walker now has seven homeruns this season and has driven in 32 runs, while Barnes improved her team-best totals to 11 homeruns and 42 RBI. Magee lowered her ERA to just 0.68 this season with the 13 scoreless innings of work. Opposing batters are now hitting .159 this season.
With the wins the Rattlers are now 28-14 overall, while the Javelinas fell to 25-10. St. Mary’s will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Stephenville to face Tarleton State University in a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m.