WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Catalina Cavazos and Madeline Bloom each pitched complete games as St. Mary's swept a doubleheader at Mustangs Park with a pair of 5-0 victories on Saturday afternoon.
Destiny Salinas led off for St. Mary's and started the day with a base hit to right field. The ground ball got past
Madisen Mann and rolled to the fence. Salinas sped around the bases and gave the Rattlers a 1-0 lead in the opening game.
Kennedy Cameron retired the next nine batters she faced with three strikeouts, and the score remained 1-0 through three innings.
Lauren Gonzales led off the fourth inning with a walk. Reba Reyes and Jamison Holder followed with base hits, and Reyes scored on a throwing error.
Cameron retired the next two batters before Ericka Gomez doubled to left-center, scoring Holder for the third run of the inning.
St. Mary's added a run in the seventh inning after Raegan Tennill led off the frame with a base hit.
Cameron took the loss but allowed only three earned runs through five innings. The junior from Longview, Texas, only issued one walk and struck out four Rattlers. Cameron made her 13th start of the year and fell to 3-9.
Cavazos threw 55 of 77 pitches for strikes.
Sydney Shimkus,
Payton Griffin and
Megan Ayala each had a hit for the Mustangs, but Cavazos threw her 16th complete game and improved to 12-7 for the Rattlers.
Christine Billmeier worked the final two innings of the opener, facing seven batters and inducing five ground ball outs for the Mustangs. The junior from Pilot Point, Texas, started Game 2.
The right-hander threw two more innings and allowed just one run on three hits and threw 23 of 40 pitches for strikes, but she took the loss in the nightcap. Billmeier is 1-2 this season.
Zoe Isom worked the final 3 1/3 innings and shut out the Rattlers on two hits. Isom got six groundball outs.
St. Mary's did the bulk of its damage with three runs in the fourth inning, but two of the runs were unearned.
Sydney Gonzales worked 1 2/3 innings in the circle for MSU and only one of the four runs allowed was earned.
Bloom retired the first 10 Mustangs she faced before
Allie Monroe reached with a bunt single.
Jessika Roberts pulled a hard ground ball down the line to right field for a double in the fifth inning, and Shimkus registered her second hit of the day with single in the sixth inning.
Bloom had three strikeouts and threw her eighth complete game of the season, improving to 9-6 for the Rattlers.
The three-game series concludes on Sunday at Mustangs Park with the first pitch scheduled for noon.
-- MSUMustangs.com --
