Lubbock Christian takes two more from Zias

LUBBOCK — Freshman third baseman Stephanie Rendon drove in four runs with a pair of doubles, including a go-ahead shot in a four-run fifth, and Lubbock Christian rallied for an 8-5 victory in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday to complete the sweep of a four-game weekend series with Eastern New Mexico University.

The Lady Chaps (4-0), who swept the Zias on Friday in Portales, took Saturday’s first game 10-0, called after 4 1/2 innings because of the eight-run rule.

The Zias (3-8), who did not lead in any of the first three games, overcame a 2-0 deficit in the finale with two runs in the third, then took a 4-2 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by senior designated player Alex Mayo Otis and a run-scoring single by senior second baseman Rebecca Quinones.

LCU, ranked No. 5 in the NAIA, tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Rendon’s two-run double. The Zias then regained a 5-4 lead in the fifth when Samantha Davis scored from third on a two-out error.

In the LCU fifth, singles by Priscilla Fagaines and Latainna Eltsosie put runners at the corners, and Fagaines scored when Davis booted Amanda Parsons’ RBI grounder to third.

Rendon followed with her double to left. Kayla Van Dieren’s squeeze bunt plated the fourth run of the inning.

Senior Alyssa Gutierrez (3-0) picked up the win in both games, working 3 1/3 innings in relief in the nightcap after throwing an abbreviated two-hit shutout in the opener.

Lubbock Christian jumped on Zias starter Kristen Cruickshank (3-4) in the first inning of the opener as first baseman Kim Frazier followed a one-out single by Van Dieren with her third homer in three games and Parsons later added an RBI single.

LCU added two in the second, then broke the game open with a five-run third highlighted by Van Dieren’s two-run triple.

Gutierrez walked three and struck out four, allowing only a two-out double to Mayo Otis in the third and a two-out single by Kassandra Sanchez in the fifth.