SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of Incarnate Word softball team started out their last home series of the season on Friday night against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (17-29, 6-18) with an 11-3 loss at Cardinals Field.
           
The game started out on a positive note for the Cardinals (17-33, 6-19) as they struck first in the bottom of the second inning after a solo shot from Mikaela Flores (Lockhart/Lockhart HS) which was her third homerun of the season.  Later in the inning, the Cardinals added another run after Shelbi Swenson (Elgin/Elgin HS) singled to center field to score Katie Helm (New Braunfels/Canyon HS) to make the score 2-0.
           
It did not take long for the Islanders to answer in the top of the third inning as Adriana Farris hit a homerun to left field and Cosette Hernandez hit a double that scored Mackinzee Griebel to tie the game at 2-2.
           
It was a closely contested game until the top of the fifth inning when Islanders exploded for eight runs in the inning on eight hits.  UIW did have an error in the inning that proved to be costly and the Cardinals could not respond after the big inning by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Cardinals did score one run in the bottom of the fifth inning to avoid the 8-run rule for one inning. The Islanders scored the final run of the game in the top of the sixth inning to make the final score 11-3.

Bridget Stein (Brenham/Brenham HS) came in relief for UIW in the third inning and she went 2.0 innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on five hits.  Collen Bentke picked up the victory for the Islanders after going 4.0 innings in relief and only gave up one unearned run on three hits. Stein is charged with her eighth loss for the Cardinals.
           
At the plate, UIW had six hits as a team and Flores went 2-for-3 with the solo homerun.  Darrianne Hale (Mesquite/Bishop Lynch HS) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Swenson also had an RBI single for the Cardinals.  Dani Tefft led the Islanders after going 3-for-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored.

The series continues tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at noon as UIW celebrates Senior Day and the final two games of the season.
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