SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word softball team snapped a long losing streak on Tuesday with a win in the nightcap of a doubleheader with visiting Texas Southern University.  The Lady Tigers won the first game, 5-2 while the Cardinals took the second game, 6-1 at Cardinals Field.

In the opener, the Cardinals (4-27) played a ragged game where they committed five errors and made a few base running mistakes.  The Lady Tigers (10-14) scored twice in the first inning and twice in the fifth inning and each time one of the runs was unearned. 

UIW scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and threatened to score more when they loaded the bases with one out, but a pop up and a line out ended the threat.  TSU added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning on a solo home run by Brianna Parker.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cardinals had a rally short-circuited when they were thrown out trying to steal and base and trying to stretch a double into a triple.  Kristin Hebert (Humble/Atascocita HS) took the hard luck loss for UIW.  She tossed a complete game allowing three earned runs and no walks while striking out two.  Taylor Johnson (Schertz/Clemens HS) had two hits and scored twice while Kellen Robles (San Antonio/Smithson Valley HS) had two hits and drove in a run.

The Lady Tigers pounded out 10 hits in the game as Jessica Miller, Parker and Krystalani each had two hits in the contest.  Madison Staton pitched a complete game to earn the win.  She allowed seven hits, two runs and three walks while striking out one.

In the second game, Texas southern jumped out to an early lead on an RBI double by Thomasina Garza in the top of the first inning.  UIW came back in the bottom of the first.  Johnson led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Robles and then two wild pitches allowed Johnson to score.

The Cardinals took the lead for good in the third inning.  The Lady Tiger defense helped out UIW by committing three errors that led to three unearned runs.  Brooke DuBois (Pearland/Pearland HS) capped the inning by driving in two runs with a single to make it 4-1.  UIW tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning when Lindsey Hood (San Antonio/Smithson Valley HS) led off the inning with a single and was pinch run for by Danielle Ramirez (San Antonio/Marshall HS).  Ramirez stole second and later scored on a wild pitch.  In the sixth inning, Samantha Mendoza (Fresno, CA/Washington Union HS)) also scored on a wild pitch.

DuBois picked up the victory by tossing a complete game.  She allowed four hits, one run and five walks while striking out seven.  Johnson had two more hits to lead the offense.

TSU fired five wild pitches in the game that led to three runs for the Cardinals.  Brianna Bryant took the loss after allowing four runs in 2.1 innings.

The Cardinals are in action on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Texas State.
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