PASADENA, Texas – Blinn College softball had no trouble getting any run support after beating Murray State College 9-5 and Hill College 16-0 in five innings to close out the San Jacinto College Softball Tournament Saturday.
The Buccaneers finished the tournament with a 4-1 record and improve their overall record to 8-6.
Blinn 9 – Murray 5
Blinn started fast and held off a late surge by Murray to win the opening game of the day 9-5.
Emily Noah led the team with four runs batted in with a home run and a double. Noah also earned the win in the circle after pitching 4 2-3 innings and allowed just four earned runs and striking out four. Sam Junkin came on in relief and got the final seven outs, three of which came on strikeouts.
Shelby Achille and Alivia Villareal each had a double and a single and drove in a run. Kalli Edwards and Morgan Gray each had an RBI in the win.
Blinn got going right in the first inning when Nicole Garcia started the game with a single and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Noah to center for a 1-0 lead. Edwards drew a walk following Garcia’s single and scored on an error for the second Blinn run. Villareal made the score 3-0 after an RBI double to right to score Achille. Murray scored one run in the bottom of the first to get within 3-1.
The Buccaneers went after more runs with two out in the second inning as Achille made the score 4-1 after an RBI double to center to score Edwards. Noah followed with a two-run home run for a 6-1 lead.
Blinn scored in the first three innings as Amy Alexander led off the third with a single and Gray was able to bring in pinch runner Abby Olejniczak for a 7-1 lead. Murray chipped away at the lead with two runs in each the fourth and fifth innings to get within 7-5 after five.
Blinn padded its lead in the sixth as Noah drove in her fourth run with a double to left to score Garcia for an 8-5 lead. Edwards put on the finishing touches in the seventh with an RBI single to right to score Alyssa Hitt for a 9-5 lead that would hold up until the final out.
Blinn 16 – Hill 0
Blinn had plenty of run support in its finale in the San Jacinto Tournament and scored runs in four out of five innings played to beat Hill 16-0 in five innings.
Achille led the team with four RBIs with a triple, double and a single. Achille only lacked a home run to hit for the cycle. Gabriela Gomez drove in three runs with the help of a home run. Edwards had a 4-for-4 game with a double and three singles to drive in a pair. Garcia drove in two runs with a home run, double and a single to be just a triple short of the cycle.
Colleen Bentke was the beneficiary of all the run support as she picked up the win in the circle after five innings of shutout ball while striking out three and allowing just one hit.
Blinn got on the board in the opening inning as Garcia led off with a double and scored on an RBI ground out by Achille for the first run of the game. Edwards got on with a single out of the second spot in the lineup and scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead. Achille doubled the lead in the second inning with a two-run double to left for a 4-0 lead after two innings.
The Buccaneers put the game away with a nine-run fourth inning and it started with a two-run home run to right by Garcia for a 6-0 lead. Achille followed two batters later with an RBI triple to score Edwards for a 7-0 lead. Calli Birch made the score 8-0 with an RBI single to center.
Gomez delivered three runs following Birch with a home run to boost the lead to 11-0. Edwards kept the inning going with a two-run double to center for a 13-0 lead that would cap the scoring in the inning.
Blinn was able to pile on a few more runs in the fifth when Emily Taylor started with a single and later scored the 14th run on an error. Alyssa Vega followed with an RBI single to right for a 15-0 lead. Bentke added to her run support with an RBI single up the middle to make it a 16-0 lead that would end the game early in the fifth inning.
Blinn will play in the Temple College Softball Tournament next weekend starting with three games on Friday, Feb. 17. Blinn will open the tournament against Temple College at 10 a.m. then face No. 5 McLennan Community College at 12:30 p.m. and close the day against Angelina College at 3 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 34 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.