February 9, 2007
ABILENE – Freshman Taryn Munoz picked up her first collegiate win and Lindsay Barnes continued her offensive assault as St. Mary’s University defeated Fort Lewis College 11-3 and 19th-ranked Abilene Christian 7-3 in softball action on the first day of the CBS Insurance Classic.
Munoz (Fr., Bulvedere) allowed just three runs on six hits and one walk over five innings to record the win. The start was just her second as a Rattler. She allowed three first-inning runs, and then settled down to shut out Fort Lewis over the final four innings.
Offensively the Rattlers tied things at 3-3 in the third inning when Barnes (Jr., San Antonio) smacked her third homerun of the season, a two-run shot. The Rattlers then took the lead in the fourth inning with three runs. Lindsay Magaro (Sr., Elmendorf) singled home two runners to give the Rattlers the lead for good and Barnes followed with a single to score Magaro, giving St. Mary’s a 6-3 lead. The following inning they put the game away with five runs, including a two-run triple by Mary K Pederson (Jr., Houston) and run-scoring doubles by Sarah Cooper (Jr., Houston) and Kelsey Walker (Jr., San Antonio).
In the second game, against Abilene Christian, Malissa Magee (Jr., Houston) held the 19th-ranked Wildcats to just three runs over 5 2/3 innings of work. She struck out eight in improving to 4-1 on the season. Brittany Kettinger (Jr., Azle) tossed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for her first save of the season.
Walker went 4-of-4 with two doubles and four RBI in the game, while Barnes hit her fourth long ball of the season. In all, the Rattlers totaled 12 hits in the game with seven different Rattlers picking up at least one hit.
With the wins the Rattlers broke a two-game losing streak and improved to 7-2 overall this season. They will continue play at the CBS Insurance Classic on Saturday with a 12:30 p.m. matchup against Southeastern Oklahoma State. If they win that game they will advance to the tournament championship game at 3 p.m. The loser of the SOSU-St. Mary’s game will likely play in the third place game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.