Islanders Stay Alive, Eliminate Lady Demons in Southland Tournament
No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5, No. 6 Northwestern State 1
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The No. 1 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi eliminated the No. 6 seed Northwestern State 5-1 in game five of the 2011 Southland Conference Softball Tournament in Huntsville, Texas. The Islanders' win marks their first in the conference tournament.
Northwestern State scored its only run in the bottom of the second inning as senior Kayla Cole gave the Lady Demons their only run of the day and tournament with an RBI single through the right side scoring sophomore Ashlee England.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tied the game 1-1 in the top of the fifth inning, scoring its first run of the tournament as senior Caley Jeter, a first-team all-conference selection at second base, drove in junior Sandy Schumann.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Islanders took a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish. With runners on the corners and no outs, Schumann singled to left field scoring sophomore Meagan McKinney who had stolen second base as a pinch runner for senior Lauren Dodson who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Junior Cassie Redman followed and reached base on a throwing error which also scored McKinney and Schumann. In the top of the seventh inning, Islanders senior Brittany Tucker scored on a throwing error to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi its final run and win at 5-1.
Junior Jordan Trujillo improved to 15-7 on the year recording her 14th complete game while giving up just three hits and one run with three strikeouts.
Sophomore Kylie Roos ends her season at 12-7. Northwestern State concludes its season at 32-25, its first 30-plus winning season since 2005.
With the win, Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi stays alive and will face the winner of game six between
No. 5 UTSA and No. 2 UT Arlington at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
Post Game Quotes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Coach Jake Schumann
"I'm proud of our kids for scrapping together some runs and how we played after a quick turnaround following last night. Getting our first victory at the conference tournament is something that the team worked hard for."
Northwestern State Coach Donald Pickett
"I think we came out today and gave ourselves a chance to win today, but it just got down to the last couple of innings. We made some mistakes we didn't need to make and they took advantage of it. But I'm proud of our girls for the year they had. It's been frustrating at times because we've been so close so many times, but we really improved this year with our schedule strength and making the conference tournament. We just gotta keep moving forward from here and learn from what we did here. It's been great to come out and get this experience. We're gonna build from this point and, hopefully, come back next year and handle the pressure better."