SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University softball team finished off its first Southern Athletic Association series of the season with a 4-2 win over Rhodes College (TN) on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers (16-6-1, 2-1 SAA) and the Lynx (12-11, 3-3 SAA) split yesterday's doubleheader to open the series, with Rhodes winning 10-9 to start the day and then Trinity rebounding in a big way with a 12-0 shutout in five innings. Both teams scored in the first inning of today's game and the Tigers led 3-1 after one. Trinity added another run in the second to make it 4-1, then held on for the win, limiting Rhodes to just three hits on the day. The Tiger offense collected just four total hits but also took advantage of four errors and six walks allowed by Rhodes.
Megan Kriechbaum (Cedar Hills, Utah / Pleasant Grove) pitched her second straight complete game to earn the win and improve to 5-3 on the season. She allowed just one earned run on three hits and struck out five batters. Kriechbaum gave up just one hit over the first five innings and stranded runners in the sixth and seventh to keep Rhodes from mounting a comeback.
After Rhodes got on the board with a run in the first, Trinity quickly answered as
Hannah Boudreaux (Pearland, Texas / Shadow Creek) and
Angela Baltzell (Antioch, Calif. / Freedom) both walked to put the first two runners on base.
Carsyn Lee (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) singled down the line in left field to potentially load the bases, but a fielding miscue allowed both Boudreaux and Baltzell to score. After a sac bunt moved Lee to third,
Josephine Koelewyn (Reno, Nev. / Academy of Arts Careers and Technology) lofted a fly ball into the outfield for a sac fly to score Lee, with another fielding error also allowing Koelewyn to reach base.
Mariana Garcia (Goodyear, Ariz. / Canyon View) walked to lead off the second, and pinch-runner
Samantha Melendez (Pasco, Washington / Chiawana) stole second and then scored on a single by Boudreaux to make it a 4-1 game.
Rhodes combined a leadoff walk with its first hit of the game in the third inning to trim Trinity's lead to 4-2, but Kriechbaum stranded the tying run and kept the Tigers in front. The Lynx left another runner on base in the fifth, then put two on with two outs in the sixth, but Kriechbaum induced an inning-ending groundout and the game remained 4-2. Trinity loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth, beginning with a leadoff double by Garcia. Boudreaux and Baltzell drew back-to-back walks for the second time in the game, but Rhodes escaped the inning without allowing the Tigers to add to the lead. Kriechbaum had all the support she needed to finish the game, though, pitching around a one-out walk in the seventh to close out the victory.
Up Next
Trinity will continue SAA play next weekend, hitting the road to take on ninth-ranked Berry College (GA) for a three-game series. The Tigers and Vikings open the weekend with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Friday, April 3.
