Zias drop pair in St. Mary's Classic

SAN ANTONIO — Designated player Lea Padilla hit a tie-breaking leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth Saturday to lift Incarnate Word to a 3-2 victory over the Eastern New Mexico University softball team in the St. Mary’s Classic.

The loss dropped the Zias to 2-4 overall, including 1-3 in the tournament. ENMU finishes play in the event with a 9 a.m. contest today against Cameron.

Earlier Saturday, the Zias stranded 13 baserunners in a 7-4 loss to Midwestern State.

ENMU took a 2-0 lead against Cardinals on an RBI double by Rebecca Quinones and a run-scoring groundout by Michelle Anderson in the top of the third. UIW tied it in the fourth when Chelsea Muskopf hit an RBI double and scored on a single by Melanie Padilla.

Brittany Widner went four innings for the Zias, allowing nine hits and two runs. Amanda Lale finished, giving up three hits over the final two frames.

The Zias, who fell behind 6-0 in the third inning against Midwestern State, left the bases loaded twice and stranded two runners three other times in the contest. ENMU had only four hits, but couldn’t take full advantage of 11 walks surrendered by two Mustangs pitchers.

ENMU pulled to 7-4 on a two-out error in the bottom of the seventh when a run scored as Alex Mayo Otis reached on a two-out error, but MSU’s Katie Peterson was able to get Kimberly Crouse on a pop-up to third to end it with two runners aboard.

Senior Kristen Cruickshank (2-2) scattered 12 hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Three of the runs off Cruickshank were unearned, the result of three Zias errors.