The Hillsdale College softball team ended its Texas trip with a second defeat at the hands of a strong Texas A&M-Kingsville team on Sunday.
In the Chargers' final game in the Portland Invite, the Javelinas took an 8-0 victory, scoring at least one run in five of the game's six innings while holding Hillsdale to just two hits.
Freshman pitcher Joni Russell took the loss for Hillsdale, but did well to limit the damage in the first four innings, preventing a repeat of the 12-run inning in Saturday's contest between the Chargers and Javelinas that put the game away early. That bought Hillsdale time to get its bats going, but the Chargers just couldn't solve the Javelinas' pitcher, Beth Montes, in the loss.
Russell finished with three strikeouts and one walk in five and two-thirds innings of work for the Chargers. Senior Madison Rathbun had a single in the third inning for the Chargers, and junior Jenna Cantalupo added a single in the fifth inning as well.
Hillsdale (1-4) leaves Texas with some action under its belt against strong competition, and a sense of what it needs to work on to improve moving forward. The Chargers will have two weeks of practice before heading to the Chicagoland Area to play in the Rosemont Dome Tourney on the 25th, 26th and 27th of February, beginning with a regional game against Ferris St. at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25.
Photo by Kasidy Carson