The Eastern New Mexico softball team salvaged a hot start to the opening game in a three-game series against UT-Permian Basin and picked up their fourth straight win with a 5-4 victory in extra innings on Friday night.
The Hounds jumped out to a 4-1 lead after two innings of play, but saw the Falcons tie it up at 4-4 in the top half of the sixth inning, taking the game into extra innings. Sophomore Jennifer McElroy doubled in the bottom half of the eighth inning after Samantha Brockman advanced to second base following a fielding error for the Falcons and came around to score to give Eastern New Mexico a fourth consecutive win in Lone Star Conference play.
Senior Kimberly Herron stranded 12 base runners throughout the game to pick up her third win in as many games for Eastern, working her way around multiple bases loaded jams and gave up just one hit against four batters that stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Herron went all eight innings, surrendering just three earned runs without striking out any batters.
Senior Emma Gary got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with a double to right field that scored sophomore Kayla Marshall, who got on base via a single. Junior Samantha Brockman followed up the double from Gary with a base hit to right field that scored freshman Iliana Mendoza.
Gary and Brockman were two of four different Hounds that recorded an RBI in the contest. Gary went 2-for-4 on the evening while Brockman finished the game 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Junior Elysa Rodriguez rounded out the three runs for the Greyhounds in the first with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Gary. UT-Permian Basin answered a big bottom of the second for Eastern with one run of their own, but Marshall quickly negated the run in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice fly to leftfield that scored Herron.
Neither team generated any scoring threats in the third inning before UT-Permian Basin threatened in the top of the fourth with runners on first and second. Herron worked out of the jam thanks to an unassisted putout by senior Karina Moreno at second base and then a fly-out to left field that ended the threat to the Hound’s 4-1 advantage.
A double to left center for the Falcons with runners on second and third scored two runs in the top of the fifth for UTPB, narrowing the score to just 4-3. Another double for the Falcons in the ensuing inning set up the tying run that came around all the way from second after a fielding error by the Hounds, leveling the score at 4-4.
Herron kept the Falcon offense in check in the seventh and eighth inning and set the stage for McElroy to play the role of hero and scored Brockman to end the game in walk-off fashion.
McElroy finished the game 2-for-4, joining the previously mentioned Gary and Mendoza to finish the game with multiple hits. The Hounds have now recorded eight or more hits in three consecutive games throughout their four game winning streak.
They will look to continue those winning ways tomorrow afternoon in a double-header against UT-Permian Basin scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
