Cameron Athletics
Kenton Means, Sports Information Director
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – After comfortably winning 6-2 in game one, the Aggies needed 11 innings to finish off the sweep of St. Mary’s on Friday night, winning 7-3 in the night-cap.
Cameron entered the weekend coming off two non-conference wins on Tuesday. However, CU dropped their last four Lone Star Conference games and came into San Antonio with an 11-9 overall record and a 2-6 league mark.
The Aggies controlled game one from the first pitch. Brenna Busby and Mikayla Richmond reached base on singles to lead off the inning and then both came in to score on a Khmari Edwards double. A few batters later, CU’s third run of the inning came as Edwards came in to score on a throwing error.
Both teams went scoreless in the next four innings. Cameron broke that streak with a single run in the sixth on a single to left center by Madyson Marvulli that brought Callie Christensen across the plate.
St. Mary’s answered with their first run of the game in the bottom of the frame, but Cameron responded with two more in the seventh as Janessa Larman drove in Haley Castle on a pinch-hit double and then Edwards added another RBI by driving in Richmond on a single, extending CU’s lead to 6-1.
The Rattlers got one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh on a bases loaded walk, but senior Bethany Hines was able to settle in and close things out for her second save of the season and program best 15th of her career.
Hines and Breley Webb, who is coming off throwing a no-hitter on Tuesday, combined for 11 strikeouts in the circle for the Aggies. Webb gave up just four hits and one run while walking five to go along with her nine K’s. Hines finished things up by pitching the final 1.1 innings, giving up just one run, unearned, on one hit and two walks.
Busby and Christensen each reached base via hits three times in game one and both scored once. The team’s leading hitter, Edwards drove in three of CU’s runs and had a pair of hits and a run scored.
In the marathon game two, the Rattlers got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the second, but CU answered in the next half-frame with Richmond scoring on a Webb single and then Edwards scoring on a sacrifice fly by Marvulli to tie the game.
Both teams scored single runs in the fifth inning to keep the contest tied, this time at three. Cameron’s came on a RBI double by Castle, who keeps adding to who weekly RBI total after recording 11 during Tuesday’s twin-bill.
Neither team did a good job of bringing runners home during the game. Cameron recorded a season-best 20 hits and stranded 17 runners, while StMU totaled eight hits and left nine Rattlers on the bases.
The senior Hines pitched well, during the first 6.1 innings. She gave up seven hits and three walks, with none of the three runs scoring off her being earned as CU committed four errors in the game. Hines also struck out three batters, putting her over the 500 strikeout mark for her career, just the second time an Aggie pitcher has done that in program history. She now has 501 punch-outs for her career, which is second to just Carrie Dilks (669) on the Aggie leaderboard.
A one-out double in the bottom of the seventh, led skipper Kayla Adams to bring in freshman Jocelyn Bright to get out of the inning. A wild pitch moved the St. Mary’s runner to third, but the first-year hurler was able to work out of trouble with a pair of pop-ups. Bright gave up just one hit and one walk during her 4.2 innings of work, while striking out seven Rattler batters.
Cameron, who was held in check for the first four extra-frames, came alive in the top of the 11th, scoring four runs on seven hits in the inning. Four straight one-out singles led to Kylie French brining home Christensen to score for the first run. Castle delivered a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to put the Aggies up two. Three straight two-out singles resulted in two more runs, giving Cameron 7-3 advantage.
Bright finished things off in the bottom of the frame as the Aggies claimed their first conference sweep of the season.
At the plate, Busby reached base all seven times she came up, recording four hits while getting hit three times. Richmond, Webb, and Castle each had a trio of hits, while Castle drove in a pair of runs and had two doubles in the win.
The two wins improve Cameron’s record to 13-9 on the season and 4-6 in Lone Star Conference play. They will look to get back to .500 in league play on Sunday, March 21, when they visit St. Edward’s, who split with Oklahoma Christian on Friday, for two games. Game one of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. in Austin, Texas.