Gonzales walks-off to complete sweep against ETAMU
Lamar pinch hitter Rose Gonzales singled home centerfielder Grace Hess for the second walk-off victory of the series to defeat East Texas A&M, 5-4, March 22, at the LU Softball Complex, completing the team’s first conference sweep of the season.
Lamar beat ETAMU 8-7 in nine innings in the first game, of Friday’s doubleheader and won the second game 6-4.
The Lady Cardinals started Saturday’s first inning with a Cala Wilson two-run homer after Veronica Harrison singled to left, bringing her in to take a 2-0 lead.
ETAMU responded with two runs of their own in the top of the second inning to tie the game. Lamar rallied back with a Jayne Sepulveda RBI to bring in Raigan Brannon in the bottom of the second, taking a 3-2 lead.
Both teams went scoreless in the third, but ETAMU caught up in the fourth due to a Lamar error in centerfield, tying the game at three.
The next three innings remained scoreless for both teams until ETAMU took the lead in the top of the seventh inning with a go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly.
Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, down a run, Lamar desperately needed two runs to win the game. Brannon earned a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Aubrey Brown. Kalie Amos advanced Brown to second with a sacrifice bunt, paving the way for Gracee Hess’s game-tying double to left.
With the game on the line, Gonzales stepped up as a pinch hitter and delivered in the clutch, ripping a single to center, driving in Hess to seal the victory and the sweep.
”We say we gotta go all seven rounds in the ring,” head coach Amy Hooks said. “We just gotta keep punching and keep fighting. And I think that’s one thing about this team is we’re never out of the fight. We’re always punching, we’re always gritty. Even games we lose. I feel good about it.”
Freshman pitcher Kaylee Cuevas pitched 6.1 innings in her first career start, giving up four runs on eight hits while striking out two. Mallory Pitre took over for the final two outs, adding a strikeout to secure her second win of the series.
“ One of the bright spots is a freshman in Kaylee Cuevas, who hasn’t thrown a lot of innings, gave us six really, really good innings,” Hooks said. “We needed that. We needed to keep our staff fresh and somebody that they hadn’t seen yet. And so I thought she did a really good job.”
LU are now 18-13 overall and 6-3 in Southland Conference play where they sit in third place.
The Lady Cardinals are set to play their next SLC series against Nicholls State, March 28-29, in Thibodaux, La.
The first day will be a double header with the first game at 4 p.m. and the second at 6:30 p.m.
