A tough day on the road for the Blinn College softball team culminated in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Temple College on Tuesday in Temple, Texas.
The host Leopards earned a 12-4 victory in game one (six innings) before prevailing 12-5 in the finale.
“We couldn’t match Temple’s competitiveness and grit today,” Buccaneers head coach Rick Church said. “We left far too many runners on base in both games and need to find more intensity in those situations.”
Blinn fell to 1-2-1 on the year.
In Tuesday’s opener, it was the Buccaneers who struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning created by two Leopard errors.
Blinn’s lead was short lived as Temple rallied for four runs in the home half of the frame and tacked on from there. The Bucs climbed to within 6-4 in the sixth inning on a single from freshman infielder Zaniah Coleman and a Leopard error.
Temple erupted for six runs in its half of the inning to activate the run rule.
Coleman, freshman outfielder Haley Hughes, and freshman infielder Bailey Boetjer finished the game with two hits apiece.
Blinn sophomore pitcher Peyton Welker suffered the loss after allowing 11 runs (eight earned) on 10 hits in five innings of work. She walked three and struck out one.
The Buccaneers appeared to be in line for a split of the doubleheader as they took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning of game two. Temple rallied once again, however, posting two runs in the bottom of the fourth and five more in the fifth to surge ahead.
The Bucs managed six hits, including three for freshman outfielder Erynne Castillo.
Freshman Bella De Los Santos was the pitcher of record for Blinn after she was charged for six runs (five earned) on nine hits to go with six punchouts and six walks.
Blinn looks to get back on track with a twin bill against Kilgore College beginning at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Blinn Softball Stadium at Hohlt Park in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 45 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
