TexAnns win nightcap with school-record 21 hits

Avery Mullendore became the first Tarleton softball player to record five hits in a game since 2005 Friday. || Courtesy Tarleton Athletics

Special to The Flash
TarletonSports.com

PORTALES, NM – After suffering an extra-inning loss in the series opener, Tarleton rebounded in a big way by setting a new Tarleton single game record with 21 hits and pounding the Greyhounds 17-1 to earn a doubleheader split.

Game 1: Eastern New Mexico 7, Tarleton 6 (8)

Tarleton committed three errors in the field and stranded eight base runners while Eastern New Mexico won on a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to steal game one.

The teams traded two-run first innings as the TexAnns got on the board first with an RBI double from Avery Mullendore and an RBI single from Nyka Wood. The Greyhounds got a two-run single in their half of the frame to knot it up.

Tarleton kept it rolling with a four-spot in the second inning on another RBI double from Mullendore and a three-run jimmy jack by Wood to take a 6-2 lead after just one and a half.

That would be all the offense for Tarleton in game one as the TexAnns were held scoreless over the last six innings while Eastern tied things up with a four spot in the bottom of the sixth inning and won on the walk-off in the eighth.

There were multi-hit performances all around for Tarleton, led by Maddie Quintanar and Meghann Wrinkle with three hits each. Mullendore, Wood, and Alyssa Ringhausen each had two base hits to round out the 12-hit Tarleton attack.

Game 2: Tarleton 17, Eastern New Mexico 1 (5)

Led by the first five-hit performance in a single game since Amy Braquet in 2005, Tarleton pounded out a school-record 21 hits to bury the Greyhounds 17-1 in five innings and force a decisive rubber game tomorrow at 1 p.m. CST.

Avery Mullendore had a career day in the second game as the senior shortstop went 5-for-5 at the dish with three RBIs and four runs scored. She became the first TexAnn with five hits in a game since Amy Braquet against Abilene Christian on March 11, 2005. For the day, the senior was 7-for-10 at the plate with six runs scored and five RBIs.

The Tarleton offense never let up in the second game, scoring in every inning of the contest – starting with a sacrifice fly from Wood in the opening frame.

After Eastern New Mexico tied it up with one in their half of the first, Tarleton answered with three in the second on RBI singles from Wrinkle, Mullendore, and Wood for a 4-1 TexAnn advantage.

The big explosion for Tarleton came in the third when the TexAnns poured on seven runs on nine hits and an error. The TexAnns got an RBI single from Kadyn Kirkpatrick and three RBI doubles from Mullendore, Wood, and Megan Durante, as well as some miscues that moved runners around the bases for the other three Tarleton runs of the inning.

In the fourth, Tarleton kept the heat on the Greyounds with an RBI single from Maddie Quintanar, an RBI double from Wood, and an RBI single from Alyssa Rinhausen before Durante coaxed a bases loaded walk for the final run of the inning. Tarleton finished the day off with RBI singles in the fifth from Mullendore and Savannah Stech for the icing on the cake.

Nine of the 11 TexAnns who played in the game scored at least one run, led by Mullendore (4), Quintanar (3), and Marisa Flores (3). Mullendore led the way with five hits while Stech and Flores each had three-hit performances. Wood, Ringhausen, and Durante accounted for two hits each while Quintanar and Kirkpatrick each had one to round out the school-record 21-hit effort.

The 21 hits tops the previous Tarleton high of 20 hits in a single game, which happened first against ENMU on April 8, 1997 and again against Ouachita Baptist on March 1, 2004.

While earning plenty of run support in this one, Kayleigh Williams earned the win with five innings of work over which she allowed just two hits and struck out six.

Tarleton and Eastern New Mexico will return to action to close out the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. CST in Portales.