WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State stages its home opener on Tuesday afternoon at Mustangs Park as East Central visits for a doubleheader that gets underway at 2 p.m.

The Mustangs opened the season at the D2 First Pitch Invitational in Conroe, Texas, and earned their first win of the season with a 4-1 triumph over Central Washington. MSU lost two games in extra innings, including a 2-1 loss to No. 19 Rogers State in the finale on Saturday afternoon. Colorado Mesa also needed extra innings to defeat Midwestern State in the season opener, 4-3. Regis rallied to scrape past the Mustangs, 7-6, in the second game on Friday.

Freshman Addison Lindemann from Holliday, Texas, hurled 15 1/3 innings over two appearances in the D2 First Pitch Invitational and allowed just one earned run on four hits with 12 strikeouts. Opponents hit .160 against the right-hander, who has a 0.46 ERA through her first two collegiate appearances.

Elizabeth Uhl, a freshman pitcher from Arvada, Colorado, earned a victory in her collegiate debut as she surrendered just one run on four hits in four innings against Central Washington. Sophomore Sydney Gonzales worked three shutout innings in relief and allowed just one hit to earn the first save of the season.

Senior Kennedy Cameron from Longview, Texas, began her third season with the Mustangs and threw 5 1/3 innings against Regis. Cameron struck out four batters and allowed just four hits in her first start of the season.

Sophomore outfielder Allie Monroe from Lawton, Oklahoma, started all four games in Conroe and finished the event 7-for-14 with a home run, two doubles and five RBIs.

Junior outfielder Brianna Dominguez from Odessa, Texas, and a transfer from Midland College, started three games and was 4-for-9 with a double.

Senior shortstop Camile Nunez, who came to Midwestern State from Texas A&M-Commerce, hit second in the order in all four games, and was 5-for-14 at the plate.

Senior second baseman Chloe Bryant from Pleasanton, Texas, hit in the lead-off spot and reached base five times with four singles and a walk in the first four games. Bryant scored four runs and had an RBI for the Mustangs.

Right fielder Paige Gallegos, a freshman from Iowa Park, Texas, had two hits in her collegiate debut against Colorado Mesa. She also drove in a run with a single and scored against Regis. Gallegos drove in the go-ahead with a ground ball in the ninth inning against Rogers State.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with East Central, 29-7, and the Tigers are making their first visit to Wichita Falls since losing twice to MSU at the Falls Invitational in February of 2013. The series was renewed last season in Ada, Oklahoma, and East Central swept a doubleheader. The Tigers won the opener, 6-0, and took the nightcap in five innings, 10-2.

East Central opened its campaign with a three-game series against Newman and won the season opener in extra innings, 4-2.

The Jets won the next two games, including a 20-11 nine-inning victory in the rubber game at Piedmont High School in Piedmont, Oklahoma.

Senior outfielder Rikki Hadley was 6-for-12 (.500) with a double and three RBIs during the series.

Junior first baseman Caton Muncy pounded three doubles and scored five runs during the season-opening series for the Tigers. Muncy enters the doubleheader hitting .333 (4-for-12).

Junior catcher Jami Watson was 5-for-8 (.625) in two starts with a home run and three RBIs for the Tigers.

Senior Taylor Spence worked nine innings during the series and allowed three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and walked four batters.

Lauren HerrNeckar, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, earned the only win for the Tigers and pitched nine innings against the Jets, who scored nine runs on 11 hits, but only three of the runs were earned. HerrNeckar had six strikeouts and walked three batters.

Newman hit .288 against East Central pitching and had 36 hits over 25 innings. The Jets' offense delivered one homer, five doubles and a triple during the three-game set.

Destini Anderson is in her 17th season as the head coach at East Central and has a record of 408-402-2 with the Tigers.

Brittanie Talley is beginning her third season as the head coach at Midwestern State and is the third coach in the history of the program. Talley amassed a 129-75 record (.632) over five seasons at Vernon College earning Texoma NexStar Small College Coach of the Year honors in 2021 after leading the Chaps to a 42-12 mark and advancing to the NJCAA regional tournament.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--