TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL 4, INCARNATE WORD 3
A not-often-seen double steal resulting in a throwing error doomed Incarnate Word Friday as the Cardinals lost an elimination game to exit the annual Heartland Conference championship tournament.
UIW had won its first elimination game on Thursday over Texas / Permian Basin but could not get over the hill as the Dustdevils broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with that double theft. The Cardinals end their season with a 27-24 record.
TAMUI got a leadoff single followed by a base on balls before the runners were given the signal to go. When Incarnate Word’s Kaylen Skinner threw the ball into the outfield the winner scored. The Cardinals did get a two-out base on balls in the seventh but that was it.
Incarnate Word got on top first when Melanie Padilla doubled to left field and drove home Monica Acuna who was on via an error. TAMUI came right back on a home run by Samantha Carrillo. In the next inning, the third, UIW went back on top 2-1 when Michelle Flores scored on an infield ground out.
In the top of the sixth it became 3-3 after Acuna doubled home pinch runner Mallory Henry only to set up the fateful bottom of the inning.
Briana Sanchez went the distance for Incarnate Word for the third time in two days of tournament play. She allowed the four runs, three earned, on five hits. She walked one and struck out nine. She finishes the year at 22-9.
UIW 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 -- 3 6 2
TAMUI 0 1 0 2 01 x -- 4 5 1
Sanchez and Skinner. Beltran, Salinas (4) and Carrillo. WP—Salinas. LP—Sanchez (22-9). HR—TAMUI, Carrillo.