WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State needed a sweep in its final doubleheader of the season and a lot of help for any hopes of advancing to next week's Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament.
The list was long. The Mustangs needed Texas A&M-Kingsville to sweep Texas A&M International. They needed St. Mary's to sweep St. Edward's. Both seemed like sure things and both happened.
MSU also needed West Texas A&M to beat Eastern New Mexico at least once. That also happened. It also needed two-win Western New Mexico to scrap for a win over UT Permian Basin. WNMU did one better and swept the Falcons.
All the pieces fell into place, but Texas Woman's spoiled the opportunity beating the Mustangs 2-1 and 6-0 on Senior Day to put an end to the season.
Had MSU swept the Pioneers, it would have emerged out of a four-way tie at 9-21 with St. Edward's, Eastern New Mexico and Texas A&M International. That's because the Mustangs had a 4-2 record against the group followed by ENMU and TAMIU at 3-3 and SEU at 2-4.
Instead, Midwestern State closes the season with 8-37 record and in a tie for 14th place at 7-23 in league play.
MSU senior
Kathryn Wells weaved a gem in Game 1 limiting Texas Woman's to two runs on three hits while logging four strikeouts.
But the Pioneers scratched out two runs in the second inning scoring when Da'Jia Davis was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded then Kate Franz drove in the second run on an infield single.
The Mustangs managed an unearned run in the fourth inning when
Payton Griffin sprinted to the plate as
Daylan Inkman reached on an error.
TWU's Jules Malis improved to 6-13 in the circle throwing four scoreless innings of relief.
The Pioneers continued to dominate in the circle in the Game 2.
Sophomore Kelsie Briggs pitched her second shutout of the season allowing just two hits with four strikeouts. The Van native proved economical needing only 93 pitches to finish the year with a 5-13 record.
TWU senior Paige Tomayo had three hits to lead the Pioneer attack including a solo home run in the first inning and an RBI-double to center field in the sixth. She was a part of a double steal which resulted in a run in the third inning.
Junior
Bailey Brenek laced a one-out double to the left-field gap in the first inning, while
Mikey Dominguez slammed a ball off of Briggs' glove to reach on a single in the seventh inning to account for MSU's two hits.
Midwestern State celebrated seniors
Ashley Turner,
Daylan Inkman,
Maddy Holder and
Kathryn Wells as well as athletic trainers Isaac Adornetto and Sam Moody during a postgame ceremony.
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