Aggie Softball has rough start to '07
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (February 5) – Cameron’s softball team (0-5) and first-year head coach Richie Nye had a bit of trouble when they traveled to San Antonio, Texas over the weekend to compete in the St. Mary’s University Invitational softball tournament. The Aggies lost all five of their games, but were very close to taking a few of them.
The team lost to Southeastern Oklahoma State, 11-1, Texas Woman’s University, 5-3, and Abilene Christian, 4-0, on Friday. In Saturday’s match-ups, CU fell to Incarnate Word, 3-1, and Arkansas Southern, 9-8.
The Aggies were outplayed in their first game of the tournament, giving up five runs in the first inning. Freshman pitcher Ashton McBride struggled in her first outing of the season giving up eight runs in just three innings. She faced 21 batters with 2 walks and no strikeouts against SOSU, and finished the tournament with an 8.14 ERA.
While McBride did give up four homeruns in the tournament, she actually led the Aggies offensively with a .500 batting average and a team-high 3 RBI’s.
Cameron played better in the second game when they took on TWU, tying the game at 3 in the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth however, the Pioneers put the game away after their runner on third, who reached on an error, and runner on first, who reached on a walk, scored on a double to left field.
The third game of the tournament was a very close contest for both CU and the nationally ranked (No. 19) ACU Wildcats. The game was tied until the bottom of the seventh inning when three straight hits loaded the bases for the ‘Cats. The very next swing of the bat brought in all three runners as Abilene Christian won on a walk-off grand-slam.
The Aggies woke up Saturday looking to put the first day of the tournament out of their minds and rebound with a pair of victories against UIW and SAU. Unfortunately for Cameron, Saturday proved to be as tough as Friday.
Senior pitcher Amanda Hibbs pitched a complete game against the nationally ranked (No. 7) Incarnate Word Cardinals, but the two runs she gave up in the first inning did the Aggies in. A couple of errors and a fielder’s choice gave CU their lone run, but it was simply too little too late. Hibbs finished the tournament with a team-best 1.75 ERA in 2 complete games, and gave up a total of 7 hits, 9 walks, and 5 strikeouts.
The Aggies’ fifth and final game of the tournament came against a solid Southern Arkansas team, and looked as Cameron would finally get a victory. The Aggies put up 7 runs in the first two innings and held the lead until the start of the sixth inning. SAU scored a run on a double in the sixth inning to tie the game, and a sacrifice bunt in the top of the seventh inning gave Southern Arkansas the lead. The Aggies came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning hoping to at least send the game to extra innings, but could not.
The sibling duo of Stephanie (senior, shortstop) and Melissa (junior, thirdbase) Bour gave impressive performances throughout the tournament, finishing with 5 and 4 hits, respectively. Despite hitting into game-ending double-play versus Southern Arkansas, Stephanie was arguably CU’s best player of the tournament. She finished with a team-high .529 on-base percentage after receiving four walks, and also added 3 RBI’s. Melissa recorded a team-high 2 doubles with a .250 batting average.
Cameron travels to San Angelo, Texas, this afternoon to take on the Angelo State Rambelles at 3:00pm and 5:00pm. Their first home game does not come until March 3rd when they host the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm at 1:00pm and 3:00pm.
