Mustangs post LSC softball sweep of ENMU

Staff report

PORTALES — Senior third baseman Katelyn Vinson did plenty of damage to Eastern New Mexico University’s softball team on Friday — and she wasn’t exactly a one-person wrecking crew, either.

Vinson homered in each game, giving her a school-record 57 career round-trippers, and drove in nine runs as Midwestern State rolled to a 13-4, 14-5 sweep of the Greyhounds in the LSC-opening doubleheader for both teams at Greyhound Softball Field.

The teams wrap up the four-game set with a noon twin bill today.

Vinson collected six RBIs in the opener, hitting a run-scoring double in the third inning, a tie-breaking three-run homer in the fifth and a two-run double in the sixth. The Mustangs (13-8) also got first-game home runs from junior left fielder Taylor Bermudes, junior pitcher Erin Knox and freshman right fielder Taylor Mordacai.

Vinson, who went 3-for-5 in both games, added a first-inning RBI single, a solo homer in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the seventh in the second tilt. She also scored four runs in the twin bill.

MSU tallied in 10 of the 14 innings and collected 35 hits for the day, including 20 in the second game.

The Hounds (7-8) pulled even at 3-3 in the opener with a three-run fourth that included senior third baseman Morgan Green’s run-scoring single, senior catcher Kyra Sirag’s RBI bunt single and a run-producing groundout by sophomore designated player Simone Laurenz. ENMU closed to 6-4 in the fifth when shortstop Susannah Chandler singled to center to drive in junior Erikka Burke.

Knox (5-0) earned the win, allowing six hits with three walks and five strikeouts. ENMU sophomore left-hander Aja Secheslingloff (4-4) also went the distance, walking two and striking out six .

In the second game, ENMU closed a 4-0 deficit to 4-3 on Chandler’s two-run homer in the first, her second of the season, and a second-inning solo homer by senior right fielder Marleyna Pinon, also her second of the campaign.

Freshman second baseman Misty Muniz capped a three-run Mustangs third, though, with a two-out, two-run double to center, and Vinson’s one-out homer and an RBI single by freshman Makenzi Harris made it 9-3 in the fourth.

Chandler drove in her third run of the game for ENMU with a fifth-inning single, and finished the day 5-for-7 with four RBIs.