February 20, 2011
San Antonio – Katie Nichols stood at third base, Kelly Baker at second and Jared Gonzalez at first.
Yep, things were looking pretty good minutes into the St. Mary’s softball team’s game against Emporia State on Saturday.
But, as was repeatedly the case on this frustrating afternoon, the Rattlers couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities they created.
Stranding 14 runners, including twice with the bases loaded, St. Mary’s fell 5-0 to Emporia State at the St. Mary’s Softball Fields.
Hours later, Tarleton State topped them 8-0 in six innings, as the Rattlers again stranded five.
“We really just need to execute when we have runners on,” shortstop Richelle Morales (Jr., San Antonio) said. “We’re doing our job at getting runners on base. We just can’t move them over and can’t score them.”
St. Mary’s (9-6), which knocked off 25th-ranked Emporia State 5-3 in its first game of the round robin, finished the event with a 1-3 mark.
Six Rattlers recorded hits in Saturday’s loss to Emporia State, led by first baseman Heather Haas’ (So., Shiner, Texas) 2-for-4 effort. Baker (Sr., Arlington, Texas), Jared Gonzalez (So., San Antonio), Alyssa Alfaro (Sr., Eagle Pass, Texas), Alex Garcia (So., San Antonio) and Shelly Lee (So., San Antonio) all also reached base with a hit.
Sprinkle in six walks with the Rattlers’ seven hits, and they certainly did enough to threaten Emporia State’s pitching staff.
The problem was, as Morales said, that they just couldn’t move players around that one extra base.
Against Tarleton State, Baker led the Rattlers with a 2-for-3 showing at the plate, while Gonzalez and Lauren Miller (Sr., Baytown, Texas) also recorded one hit apiece.
The TexAnns used a four-run second inning to take a quick 5-0 lead over the Rattlers, while it took Emporia State a little longer to build its advantage, striking with three runs in the fourth to lead 4-0.
St. Mary’s will now travel to Kingsville for a doubleheader against Texas A&M-Kingsville, beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday.