The end of the season came early for the Lady Mustangs who were eliminated from the Lone Star Conference Postseason semifinals by Incarnate Word Saturday.
But before seeing its demise, Midwestern State saw a sensational 9-8 victory over Tarleton State University in the opening round of the tournament. The Lady Mustangs were in prolific form thus their ability to overcome the TexAnns’ style of play was no surprise.
After both teams had endured an agonizing first inning with no runs, Tarleton got three points in with the help of Courtney Vroman and Kelsey Latta.
However, the Lady Mustangs dominated the third and fourth with three runs apiece. Elena Bennett, Courtney Bingham and Kim Jerrick were responsible for the runs at the top of the third while Jerrick scored a homerun to give way for runs from Courtney Ford and Elena Bennett.
Katie Welborn then took the liberty of narrowing the lead as she scored another run in favor of the TexAnns.
The Lady Mustangs benefited from the hard work of Bennett, who scored her third, and Duff as she awarded the MSU its eighth point. Kelley Schaefer homered at the top of the seventh to round up the nine points put together by Midwestern.
Nevertheless, the match became captivating when Arianna Rodriguez scored a homerun to introduce subsequent runs from Latta, Amber Sotelo and Alexandria Orf. Still, Tarleton was unable to make a comeback to the delight of the Lady Mustangs.
“I was very excited to beat Tarleton at a different complex,” said Bingham. “It showed who was the better team and we were.”
Evidently, Lady Mustangs’ encounter with Incarnate Word was not as remarkable for the former as their previous competition.
“I was very proud of how we ended,” said Bingham. “It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.”
The Cardinals split their total six points evenly between the bottom of the first and third while MSU was able to muster in three runs at the top of the seventh.
Melanie Padilla, Ashley Freeman and Sarah O’Brien were architects of the Cardinals’ first inning triumph while Lea Padilla, Whitney Waltrip and Monica Acuna doubled the lead by the bottom of the third.
Finally after three innings with no runs, Kallie Noble, Megan Chartier and Carey Campbell added excitement to the game as well as three runs to the Lady Mustangs’ repertoire.
But their effort was too little too late as the Lady Mustangs were unable to strike a comeback.
“We made it to the post season tournament and some teams can’t say they did,” continued Bingham. “It’s not exactly how we wanted it to end but it will be our driving force next year.”
Midwestern State thus ended the season with a 26-25 record.
