The University of Incarnate Word Softball team dropped a home non-conference game to the University of Houston this evening, falling 7-4. The Cardinals slide to 14-8 on the season with Southland Conference play on the horizon.

The top of the lineup was active for the Cardinals, combining to go 7-for-14 on the day with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. Victoria Altamirano was 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored, Jaisy Caceres was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, Sydney Zenon was also 2-for-4 and an RBI, and Bryanna Fuentes was 1-for-4 with a run scored.

After a quick 1-2-3 inning for Houston, Incarnate Word got on the board with the game's first run in the bottom half of the first inning. Back-to-back singles from Altamirano and Caceres got things going, and then later in the inning, Zenon singled to center field to bring Altamirano home. Caceres was 60 feet away from doubling the Cardinals lead, but she got thrown out at home trying to score on a groundout to end the first inning with Incarnate Word in front, 1-0.

Jenny Robledo got into a bit of trouble in the top of the second inning, with consecutive walks and a throwing error getting the Cougars on the board. A two-run single by the next batter ended Robledo's day and put the Cardinals down 3-1 heading into the bottom half of the inning.

Incarnate Word picked up their teammate and pushed across two runs in the inning, doing all of their damage with two outs after the second inning started with a strike out and a ground out. Prisas Quintero singled to start the rally and then ended up on third after Carmen Uribe also singled and Altamirano got hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded and two outs, Caceres doubled past the third baseman to score two and tie the game at three.

The score remained tied as the game moved into the fourth inning. Houston scored three times in the top of the fourth, putting the Cardinals in need of another rally.

Incarnate Word got one run back, as another two-out rally resulted in a pinch-hit RBI single from Kennedy Hill scored Fuentes and made it 6-4. A fly out ended the inning and stranded the tying runs with two innings left for Incarnate Word.

The Cardinals had just one baserunner over the final two innings, while Houston tacked on one more run to bring it to the 7-4 final.

Incarnate Word continues their homestand at H-E-B Field on Friday, March 6th as the Cardinals open-up Southland Conference play with the first game of a three-game series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.