SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Crosstown rivals University of the Incarnate Word and St. Mary's split a softball doubleheader on Wednesday night at the Northside ISD Field #1.  The Cardinals (4-3) won the first game, 3-2 in eight innings while the Rattlers (4-3) bounced back to win the second game, 8-3. (Game 1, Game 2)

In the first game, Briana Sanchez (San Antonio/Marshall HS) and the Cardinals appeared to be cruising to a relatively easy victory.  UIW scored in the top of the fourth inning on a two-out single by Alex Yarbrough (Boerne/Boerne HS) that scored Anna-Marie Moore (Aloha, OR/Aloha HS).  Melanie Padilla (San Antonio/Marshall HS) added a solo home run in the fifth inning.

Sanchez was one out away from pitching a 2-hit shutout when Sarah Perez cracked a game-tying two-run homer for the Rattlers. 
The Cardinals responded in the top of the eighth inning.  Padilla led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.  Monica Acuna (San Antonio/Holmes HS) followed with a single and then Kandace Patek (Magnolia/Tomball HS) drove her in with another base hit.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Sanchez allowed to batters to reach base, but induced Vianna Gutierrez into a pop out to end the game.  Sanchez improved to 3-0 after allowing four hits, two runs and four walks while striking out nine in 8.0 innings.  Emily Brittain was tagged with a complete game loss for St. Mary's.

The Cardinals rapped out 12 hits in the game.  Acuna, Padilla, Yarbrough and Alex Zepeda (Sinton/Sinton HS) each had two hits in the game.

In the second game, the Rattler bats came alive scoring seven runs in the first two innings and they never looked back.  They only needed five hits to score the seven runs, but took advantage of three errors by the Cardinals.

The Cardinals had some opportunities to get back in the game, but left nine runners on base through the first four innings and then did not threaten to score over the final three innings.  UIW managed only four hits in the game.  Ashley Freeman (Canyon Lake/Smithson Valley HS) drove in two runs while Mia Esposito (San Antonio/O'Connor HS) had a double and scored a run.
Nicole Vidrine led the Rattlers offense going 3-for-3 with three runs, two stolen bases, two RBI's and a first-inning home run.  Laura Benavidez went 1-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in.

Gutierrez pitched a complete game for the Rattlers allowing four hits, three unearned runs and six walks while striking out seven to get the win.  Whitney Waltrip (Orangevale, CA/Casa Robles HS) was tagged with loss for the Cardinals after lasting just 1.2 innings.  Patek pitched well in relief for UIW allowing four hits and one run in 4.1 innings.

The Cardinals are back in action on Friday at 1 o'clock.  They travel to Texas Lutheran for a doubleheader.
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