Moment number five on our “Top Ten Moments of 2019-20” series occurred back on Mar. 11 as Eastern New Mexico softball swept arch-rival West Texas A&M by final scores of 4-3 and 5-4.

The wins snapped a 38-game losing streak for the Hounds against the Lady Buffs, giving Eastern the first two wins in the series since 2007. The Hounds posted 21 hits on the afternoon and moved to 5-1 in Lone Star Conference play with the two wins, eventually finishing in second place in the conference standings at the end of a shortened 2020 season.

Freshman Brook Leger picked up the win in game one, going six innings in the circle while conceding just three earned runs to a high-powered West Texas A&M offense. She blanked the Lady Buff offense in the first two innings before West Texas A&M broke the scoreless tie for the first run in the afternoon in the top half of the third inning.

Junior Jennifer McElroy finally put a run on the board with a solo homerun in the bottom of the fourth before the Hound offense finally came alive in the next inning to take the lead. Senior Elysa Rodriguez drove in pinch runner Mikenzey Patterson with the first of two consecutive doubles in the inning for the Hounds to take the 2-1 advantage.

That second double of the inning, this time by freshman Jokaira Paredes, scored Rodriguez and padded a 3-1 lead for Eastern New Mexico. Freshman Lauren Avalos tacked on one more for the Hounds with a two-out single that scored Paredes to build the 4-1 lead heading into the fifth.

The Lady Buffs wouldn’t allow their winning streak to go down quietly however as they posted two runs of their own in the top of the sixth inning against Leger on a two-run homer to narrow the advantage to just 4-3. The Hounds went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, setting the stage for freshman Tava Boone to come into the circle for Leger and retire the Lady Buffs in order thanks to a game ending double play that secured the 4-3 win for Eastern New Mexico.

That momentum carried over into game number two of the afternoon as the Hounds were able to capitalize on an early advantage in order to once again hang on to a one-run win. McElroy was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first inning with the bases loaded to put the first runs on the board for Eastern New Mexico before freshman Azalea Martinez singled down the right field line to score junior Andrea Cline, the first of her three hits in game number two.

West Texas A&M once again responded and scored two of their own to tie the game up at 2-2 midway through the second inning, but struggled once again to contain the Eastern New Mexico bats as they regained the lead in the bottom half of the second. The Rodriguez-Paredes duo struck once again as Rodriguez hit a two-out double and scored on the ensuing single up the middle by Paredes to give the Hounds a 3-2 advantage heading into the third inning.

Three straight singles in the bottom of the fifth broke the game open for the Hounds as the lead grew to 5-2, an advantage that would sustain a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh inning by the Lady Buffs to give Eastern New Mexico their first doubleheader sweep over their arch-rivals since Mar. 25, 2007.

That day would be the final outing for the Hounds as the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but head coach Kira Zeiter and her squad couldn’t ask for a better way to out.