CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Jessica Chastka led
the ULM softball team to a tournament-opening 2-0 victory in the Holiday Inn
Emerald Beach Invitational, as she threw a complete game shutout over Houston
Baptist. In the nightcap, Michelle Farrell-Fink's first home run of the season was
an impressive three-run shot against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but the
Warhawks suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 defeat in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Chastka (2-1) struck out four, walked none,
and allowed just five hits from the circle during her win. She threw and
amazing 58 pitches and walked away with five 1-2-3 innings for ULM (4-8).
"Chastka had an outstanding performance today,"
head coach Rosemary Holloway-Hill said. "Any time a pitcher throws less than 75
pitches, I consider that an awesome performance. While she was on her game, we
still need to give her and our other pitchers more run support."
Farrell-Fink finished the day with two hits,
but it was her three-run home run that highlighted the Warhawks' offense. Sarah
Carriger led all ULM hitters with three base knocks, while Brianna Love drove
in two runs and earned two walks.
"I like the way our offense fought back in the
second game," Holloway-Hill said. "We still need to develop some consistency
right now. There are times when we look like we are in mid-season form, but we
still aren't completely executing in critical situations."
Game
One Recap:
Carriger, Roxy Cassel, and Melissa Rivera
each finished 2-for-3 at the plate for ULM. Cassel finished the contest with a
double and triple, while Amanda Sartoris hit her fifth double of the season off
the top of the left-field fence.
Laine Skelton paced Houston Baptist (3-4) with
a 2-for-3 performance. Three other Huskies also recorded a hit in the game.
ULM struck the scoreboard in the third frame
after Katie Girardi hit a sacrifice groundout to score Carriger for a 1-0 lead.
Carriger began the inning with an infield single, reached second on a fly out,
and stole third base.
The Warhawks tacked on a second run in the top
of the seventh when Love hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Elena DiMatta
scored on the sacrifice to give ULM a 2-0 advantage. The inning began with
three-consecutive single by Rivera, Robin Biddle, and Carriger to load the
bases.
Jammie Weidert (1-2) took the loss after
allowing two earned runs on eight hits in the complete game effort. She struck
out four, but walked two.
Game Two
Recap:
Farrell-Fink also had a sacrifice hit in the
contest, along with her home run, but the Warhawks left nine runners on base.
Love finished 2-for-2 with a double, two
walks, a run scored and a RBI. Cassel recorded her first sacrifice hit of the
season and Janel Salanoa stole her fifth base of the year.
Brittany Tucker led Texas A&M-Corpus
Christi (10-3) with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, to go along with three
RBIs. Kacie Smith and Lauren Dodson each tallied a pair of base hits, while Meagan
McKinney scored three times.
Elena Crabtree (6-0) picked up the win in the
circle after throwing a complete game. She allowed six runs, five earned, on
eight hits and struck out four, but walks five batters.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi opened the
scoring with a four-run third inning. The Islanders began the frame with
back-to-back singles before a wild pitch put runners at second and third. Caley
Jeter hit a RBI single to left field, scoring Dodson. Cassie Redman also scored
on the at-bat because of a fielding error. Tucker drove in the final two runs
of the scoring spurt on a two-out single to right-center field.
ULM responded back in the top half of the
fifth inning with five runs to take a 5-4 lead. After a single and a fielder's choice,
Love smacked a RBI double to right field driving in Biddle, who entered as a
pinch runner. Cassel would drive in the third Warhawk run after she recorded a
sacrifice bunt to score Carriger. Farrell-Fink highlighted the frame in just
her second pitch of the at-bat, when she drove a pitch deep over the left-field
wall for a three-run homer.
It didn't take long for the Islanders to answer,
as they tied the contest with a run in their bottom half of the inning.
McKinney reached base on a throwing error, before Tucker hit a RBI single back
up the middle.
The back-and-forth contest continued in the seventh
inning, as ULM put a run on the board to claim a 6-5 advantage. Salanoa patiently
waited out a base on balls at-bat, before she was sacrificed to second and
reached third on a groundout. She eventually scored on a fielding error by the
Islanders pitcher.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fought back to
earn a come-from-behind win with two runs in the bottom of the seventh frame. McKinney
started the frame off by reaching on a fielding error, before Smith laced a RBI
double down to left-center field to tie the game. Dodson later recorded the
game-winning hit on a single to right-center field, which drove in Smith.
Heather Fritz (2-2) was given the loss after
giving up three unearned runs on five hits in four innings of work.
