BUCS ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS AT REGION XIV TOURNEY

SUNDAY

Wrinkle delivers game-winning single over Angelina to push Buccaneers into semifinals, 4-3

LUFKIN, Texas – Just another day and another game-winning hit for Blinn College softball as this game-winner was delivered by Meghann Wrinkle in the bottom of the seventh to give the Buccaneers a 4-3 victory over Angelina College Sunday afternoon in Lufkin.

With two outs and two runners on in the seventh, Wrinkle stepped up to line a single to left to score Katie Andrie from second to send Blinn into the semifinals of the Region XIV Tournament. With the win, the Buccaneers will now face the only other unbeaten team in Navarro College Monday, May 4 at 3 p.m. The second consecutive walk-off victory for Blinn improves its overall record to 41-13. The game will be streamed live at www.psnsports.com.

“We missed out on a few opportunities to score in this game but we were able to keep our chin up and not get down on ourselves,” said Blinn head coach Rick Church. “We are playing together and good things happen when we play together.”

Wrinkle had the hot bat all game as she went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles while bringing in two runs. Jordin Wilkins also brought in a pair of runs. Mariah Gibson surrendered three early runs in the first three innings but threw zeros the rest of the way to earn the victory in the circle while striking out six.

Angelina struck first with a single run in the second inning and two in the third to build up a 3-0 lead. Blinn was able to battle back in the bottom of the third when Delilah Pacheco walked and then Alli Spivey singled to get two runners on. Wilkins brought in both Pacheco and Spivey with a single to left to get Blinn within 3-2 after three.

Courtney White was able to draw a walk to start the fifth and Andrie came in to run for her. After Andrie advanced to second on a sacrifice, Wrinkle was able to deliver her second-biggest hit of the game with a double to center to knot the game at 3-3.

After going extra innings the day before, Blinn looked to avoid the eighth inning with a rally in the seventh. Andrie started it off with a one-out single and then Gibson reached on an error to get a pair on base with two outs. Wrinkle came through again in the seventh with her single to left to score Andrie for the game-winner.

SATURDAY

Buccaneers get by Paris in first round after Pacheco’s game-winning single, 4-3

LUFKIN, Texas – It is better to have the offense show up late than never show up at all as Blinn College softball trailed 3-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth but crawled back into the game and got a game-winning single by Delilah Pacheco in a 4-3 victory over Paris Junior College Saturday evening in Lufkin.

The late offense couldn’t have come at a better time as Blinn was able to advance out of the first round of the Region XIV Tournament hosted by Angelina College. The Buccaneers will next play Angelina Sunday, May 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the second round as the Blinn record now improves to 40-13.

Pacheco hit two singles in the game but the biggest came in the eighth inning while Kayla Lahrmann also hit a double and a single to lead the offense. Jaiden Rawls hit a solo home run in the eighth to help the comeback while Alli Spivey and Seeley Orsak each had an RBI.

Mariah Gibson got the start for Blinn and although Paris scored three runs, none of them were earned against Gibson.

Scoring was hard to come by for both teams but Paris was able to strike first with a run in the third. Blinn came right back in the bottom half when Lahrmann hit a one-out double and then made her way to third on an error. Spivey was able to hit Lahrmann in with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. That would be all the scoring until Paris put two runs on the board in the eighth inning to build a 3-1 lead.

With its back against the wall, Blinn was able to come up big and it started with a solo home run by Rawls to get within 3-2 with one out. Katie Andrie followed with a walk and Meghann Wrinkle came in to run for her and eventually scored on an error to tie the game at 3-3.

With the pressure on, Pacheco came through with the game-winning single to center to score Avery Mullendore for a 4-3 victory.

For more information, visit: www.buccaneersports.com.

(Story courtesy: Jake Gordon, Blinn Information)