BEAUMONT, Texas – Blinn College softball will head into conference play riding a four-game winning streak following a 4-2 win over Northeast Texas Community College and a 6-0 shutout of Tyler Junior College Feb. 28 in Beaumont.
With the pair of victories, the Buccaneers boosted their record to 16-8 just before conference play.
Kayla Lahrmann came up big for Blinn against Northeast Texas as she hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Buccaneers the 4-2 win. Jazzmin Fritz hit a double and a single and knocked in the other run while Avery Mullendore picked up two singles. Mariah Gibson pitched all seven innings and allowed two runs while striking out nine in the win.
Northeast Texas got the scoring started in the second inning with a single run but Blinn came back to tie it in the bottom half. With two outs, Lara Cecchetti walked and then scored after an RBI single by Fritz to knot the game at 1-1. Northeast regained the lead with a single run in the fourth for a 2-1 advantage.
Two outs away from a loss, Blinn got a single by Mullendore and a double by Fritz and then Lahrmann gave the Buccaneers the 4-2 win with a walk-off three-run shot.
Pitching stole the show in the second game against Tyler as Jaiden Rawls pitched all seven shutout innings and only allowed five hits. Delilah Pacheco, Courtney White, Meghann Wrinkle and Lahrmann each had two hits in the win.
Blinn got the scoring going in the first when Alli Spivey reached on an error and then Seeley Orsak singled her in for a 1-0 lead. Wrinkle helped to add to the lead in the fourth with a leadoff single and then later scored on a passed ball for a 2-0 lead.
Mullendore delivered a big blow in the fifth with a two-run double to left to boost the lead to 4-0. In the sixth, Lahrmann singled to begin the inning and Spivey later brought her in with a single for the five run lead in the sixth. Blinn added an additional run in the seventh when Mullendore was hit by a pitch and Katie Andrie followed that with a triple for a 6-0 lead that ended up being the final score.
Blinn will begin conference play on March 4 against Galveston College on the road with a double-header starting at 4 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 30 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
