DENTON, Texas (April 23, 2022) – Jalee McDonald hit her first home run of the season on Saturday, April 23, as the Texas Woman's University softball team lost a pair of games to No. 5 Texas A&M University – Kingsville.
 
TWU (10-33, 5-23 Lone Star Conference) battled in both games on senior day at Dianne Baker Field and were able to tack runs on the board against the No. 5 team in the nation, but the Pioneers were unable to upset the Javelinas.
 
No. 5 TAMUK (41-8, 21-7) won the first game in five innings, 16-3. While TWU took the second game the full seven innings, but the Javelinas won 8-1.
 
With a strong wind greeting the Pioneers for their 4 p.m. start, the scoring began in the second inning.
 
The Javelinas kicked off the scoring in the top of the second inning with four runs, but the Pioneers quickly answered in the bottom of the inning.
 
With two outs, Alexys Ginegaw walked to get on base. Then, McDonald stepped up to the plate and swung at the first pitch from TAMUK pitcher Beth Montes. With the swing, McDonald launched the ball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
 
Only trailing by two runs, the Pioneers defense faced just three batters in the top of the third and recorded the three quick outs to hold the Javelinas scoreless in the third.
 
With the score 4-2 headed into the fourth inning, TAMUK found their groove and scored nine runs in the top of the fourth. They scored three more runs in the top of the fifth.
 
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Nya Brown opened the inning with a single to the pitcher. The ball hit off the pitcher's glove and bounced toward the third baseman. Then, the Javelinas third baseman overthrew the first baseman, which caused the ball to roll back toward the fence. Using her incredible speed, Brown rounded all the bases to score the third run of the game for the Pioneers.
 
TWU finished with four hits in game one. Brown led the Pioneers with two hits, while Paige Tamayo and McDonald added one hit each.
 
Jules Malis (3-8) received the start for the Pioneers in the circle. She pitched one inning and faced three batters in the second, before McDonald entered to pitch.
 
Following the conclusion of game one, the Pioneers celebrated their five seniors: Rubi Diaz, Rylee Lara, Cecily Rodriguez, Da'Jia Davis and Tamayo.
 
The five seniors were honored for their hard work and dedication to the Pioneer softball program. Each player received a special gift and were honored with an encouraging video message from their fellow teammates.
 
After the senior celebration, the Pioneers kicked of game two with the Javelinas.
 
TAMUK opened the second game with three runs in the top of the first inning. Then, TWU held them scoreless in the second inning, before the Javelinas scored three more runs in the top of third inning.
 
TWU answered in the bottom of the third. Brown set the tone of the inning with an opening triple to center field. The next batter, Lara, hit a sacrifice fly to center field to allow Brown to score.
 
The Javelinas scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Following those two runs, the Pioneers turned up the energy on defense and held TAMUK scoreless for the remaining three innings of action. Nevertheless, the Pioneers were unable to find any more runs in the game to drop the second game of the night, 8-3.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, the Pioneers finished with five hits. Brown and Davis both lead with two hits each. Briana Yale also recorded one hit in the game.
 
Kelsie Briggs (4-13) started in the circle for TWU. She pitched two innings and struck out one batter. Malis entered the game in the middle of the second inning and closed the game, striking out one batter.
 
The Pioneers will have a week off before they play their final game of the regular season on Saturday, April 30. TWU will travel to Wichita Falls, Texas to play a doubleheader against Midwestern State University at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.