Friday, February 05, 2010

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - Senior designated player Alex Mayo Otis (Sr., DP, Phoenix, Ariz./St. Mary's HS) registered her second straight three-hit game of the day and Kristen Cruickshank (Sr., P, Glendale, Ariz./Deer Valley HS) tossed a two-hitter to lead the Eastern New Mexico University softball team (2-2) to a 6-2 win over Texas A&M-International (1-3), Friday night in their second game of the St. Mary's Classic at the San Antonio Independent School District Spring Sports Complex. With the win, Eastern improved to 3-0 against the Dustdevils.

After a scoreless first inning, the Zias broke out the bats, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring four runs on four hits and capitalizing on a TAMU-International error. Melissa Williams (So., SS, Sierra Vista, Ariz./Buena HS) started the fireworks with a leadoff double and moved to third on a Kandice Kaiser (Fr., 3B, Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) sacrifice bunt. One batter later, Kassandra Sanchez (Jr., LF, Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano HS) cracked a double to left field, giving Eastern the lead for good. After Samantha Davis (So., C, Farmington, N.M./Farmington HS) reached on an error by the Dustdevil shortstop, Kimberly Crouse (Sr., RF, Round Rock, Texas/Hill College/Round Rock HS) smashed a two-run triple to center and scored on Mayo Otis' single to give the Zias a 4-0 advantage.

Samantha Carillo halved ENMU's lead in the bottom of the fourth, cracking a two-out, two-run homer to left, but the Zias scored twice in the top of the sixth, on Rebecca Quiñones' (Sr., 2B, Gilbert, Ariz./Gilbert HS) two-out, two-run double.

Eastern held a 10-2 edge in hits, while each team drew two walks. Cruickshank went the distance, fanning five and improving to 2-1 on the season. Marino Vasquez scattered nine hits over six innings to take the loss for TAMU-International. At the top of the order, Mayo Otis and Quiñones combined to bat five-for-eight, with three runs batted in, and a double. Kaiser batted two-for-three, while Davis scored twice.

The Eastern New Mexico University softball team will continue play at the St. Mary's Classic, on Saturday, when they take on Midwestern State at 12 p.m. MST. The Zias will also play Incarnate Word at 4 p.m. MST.