UTSA softball opened up its UTSA Invitational with a 3-2 win over Weber State University Friday at Roadrunner Field.
UTSA (1-0) trailed the Wildcats (1-1) through the first six innings. The two teams entered the seventh deadlocked at 2-2, where the Roadrunner defense held Weber State scoreless. The offensive efforts by sophomore catcher Kalee Rochinski and junior infielder Katia Reyes sealed the season-opener win.
“I just told them congratulations,” coach Vann Stuedeman said of what she told her team after their first double-header game. “Games like the one that we had today, very gutsy walk-off wins, [it] builds toughness and grit.”
When junior utility Madison Hornback stepped up to bat in the bottom of the sixth, she bunted the ball, forcing the Wildcat’s third baseman forward as freshman pinch runner Skylar Rucker swiftly snuck onto third.
With a runner on third and one out, UTSA only needed one good play to score. In her first at-bat, freshman catcher Makayla Madrid floated a ball up center field to bring Rucker home to tie the game at 2-2.
“She’s fast. She’s real fast,” Stuedeman said of Rucker. “She’s a freshman, and she’s got a little ‘it’ factor. You put those runners that are fast in the game when we need them to score.”
Reyes was planted on first base when Rochinski sent a ball down the right foul line. The ball ricocheted and got stuck under the outfield fence. The umpires killed the play, but Reyes and Rochinski had already run through second and third base in an attempt to reach home.
After reviewing the play, Reyes was awarded the run. Leaving the bases behind, she rejoiced with her team to celebrate their first win of the season at home plate.
“I was definitely confident,” Reyes said of her decision to run through second and third base. “Coach Vann was fully confident in the fact that I was running second, so she allowed me to feel I made the right decision.”
“There is no other way to describe it,” the former NJCAA Player of the Year said of her first win with UTSA. “It’s the story I can tell forever. Being the walk-off run at my first Division I game, I’ll never forget it.”
Prior to this matchup, Weber State and UTSA had met two times — once in 2016 and once in 2012. UTSA lost both games. During the first game of the season, sophomore catcher Madison Collins delivered UTSA’s first strikeout and freshman utility Sabrina Wick reached first base for the first time in her collegiate career. Wick, Reyes and Rucker scored one run each. Madrid earned one RBI, and UTSA made six total hits compared to the Wildcats’ five.
UTSA will finish its double-header taking on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Roadrunner Field.
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