In the third away tournament of the season, the UTSA softball team visited Davis Diamond at the Texas A&M Invitational. The Roadrunners went 2-4 over the weekend, making their overall record a disappointing 4-12.
In the first three games of the weekend, UTSA was outscored 29-0. The abysmal stretch started against Southern Louisiana University when the ‘Runners could only get one hit. The next two losses were both against Kansas University, where they only collected three hits in total. This lack of offense, combined with eight errors committed over the three-game stretch, did nothing to assist the struggling pitching staff who watched 27 of the runs scored by their fault. There was no light for them in the tournament’s first half with every side of the field experiencing enough struggles to not catch a win.
The weekend turned for the better when UTSA won its next two games, both against St.Thomas University. In the two-game stretch, the ‘Runners assembled 20 hits, with the first game having a season-high of 12 hits. Sophomore third base Kylie Forney was the leader with four hits in the two games. UTSA scored a total of 18 runs, four of which were batted in by senior catcher Taylor Jensen. The ‘Runners outscored their opponent 18-13 in the two contests.
The defensive side of the ball during the two wins was near perfection, with the Roadrunners committing only two total errors. This improvement on the field helped the phenomenal pitching that was going on. Senior pitcher Jamie Gilbert put on a show in the first game with a line of six innings pitched, seven strikeouts and only three earned runs. Zelinda Camacho was the star of the circle in the second game with a line of five innings pitched, six strikeouts and only one earned run.
The ‘Runners last game of the tournament was against Texas A&M and the winning trend did not continue. Gilbert and the defense kept A&M from scoring for seven innings, but during those, UTSA could not get a hit, let alone even create an opportunity to score. The only hit of the game came in extra innings off the bat of senior catcher Erykah Guerrero, a single to left-center in extra innings, which also drove in the ‘Runners only run of the game. In the end, an untimely error and an A&M walk-off grand slam brutally ended the game and the tournament for UTSA, losing 5-1.
A trend is becoming very clear: when gathering hits and limiting errors becomes a problem, the ‘Runners get blown out. Extra trips to the batting cage and a few more minutes on the diamond may be beneficial for them to help head coach Vann Stuedeman collect more wins for her first year as the head coach.
Gilbert’s reliability and efficiency in the circle are showing as the season continues, but this tournament has caused her ERA to increase to 4.27. The rest of the pitching staff’s ERA has found its way to 6.24 which is a weakness that also needs to be improved to win games.
The Roadrunners will head to Allan Saxe Field next weekend for the Boerner Invitational.
