The fantastic first round has Lion women in second after the opening round of LSC Championships.

ARLINGTON – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s golf team carded the second-best round in program history to sit in second place after the opening 18 holes of the Lone Star Conference Championships on Monday. 

The Lions had three individuals under par on the way to a 2-under par 286, only one stroke off the program record. DBU leads the tournament at 16-under par 272. 

Sophie-Charlott Hempel (Pirmasens, Germany) and Sarah Wongsinth (Udon Thani, Thailand) are tied for third on the individual leaderboard at 4-under par 68. Both players lit up the back nine, with Wongsinth completing the backside in 31 strokes and Hempel in 32. 

Wongsinth had six birdies and closed out the round with an eagle on the 18th hole chipped in from just off the green. Hempel had five birdies against one bogey. Neither player had a bogey on the back nine. 

Inma Ortiz Prieto (Huelva, Spain) started on fire and is in eighth place at 2-under par 70. She had five birdies on the front-nine, and six birdies total, closing the round with a birdie on the 18th. 

Michelle Becker (San Antonio – Reagan) is in 51st at 8-over par 80, and Karlee Nichols (Smithson Valley) is in 62nd at 11-over par 83. 

The Lions are in the final group of pairings for the second round Tuesday with DBU and St. Mary’s. The first tee time for that trio of teams is at noon.

Rank	Team	Total	Par
1.	Dallas Baptist	272	-16
2.	A&M-COMMERCE	286	-2
3.	St. Mary’s	287	-1
4.	Ark.-Ft. Smith	293	+5
	West Texas A&M	293	+5
6.	Tex. A&M Int’l	295	+7
7.	Oklahoma Christian	299	+11
8.	Angelo St.	303	+15
	UT Tyler	303	+15
10.	Cameron	305	+17
11.	Midwestern St.	310	+22
12.	Tex. A&M-Kingsville	312	+24
13.	Western N.M.	316	+28
14.	UT Permian Basin	323	+35
15.	Lubbock Christian	328	+40

 

A&M-Commerce	286	-2	2nd
Sophie-Charlott Hempel	68	-4	t-3rd
Sarah Wongsinth	68	-4	t-3rd
Inma Ortiz Prieto	70	-2	t-8th
Michelle Becker	80	+8	t-51st
Karlee Nichols	83	+11	t-62nd

 

The No. 4 Lions split one-run games with No. 12 Javelinas 12-inning nightcap is the longest game in program history.

KINGSVILLE – The No. 4 Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team kept fans on the edge of their seats all day Sunday, splitting a pair of one-run games with No. 12 Texas A&M University-Kingsville. 

The Lions were 1-0 victors in the opening game, then dropped the second game heartbreakingly, falling 3-2 on a walk-off home run in the 12th inning. The 12-inning nightcap was the longest game in program history. 

The Lions are now 23-10 overall and 16-4 in the Lone Star Conference. The Javelinas are 14-6 in the LSC and 22-9 overall.

A&M-Commerce returns home next weekend, hosting St. Edward’s on Friday and St. Mary’s on Sunday. 

GAME ONE – Lions 1, Javelinas 0

Emily Otto (Lamar Consolidated) pitched a complete-game two-hitter, shutting out the Javelinas with six strikeouts, two walks, and three hit batters. She moved her record to 10-4 on the season with the Lions’ 12th shutout. 

Alyssa LeBlanc (Katy) hit a first-inning double that plated the game’s only run. Mackenzie Dugi (St. Hedwig – East Central) drew a two-out walk, and LeBlanc’s hard-hit ball to center made it a 1-0 game. 

While Otto was strong in the circle throughout the game, she had to work around jams. She stranded two TAMUK runners on base in the first and left the bases full of Javelinas in the sixth. 

Kinsie Hebler (Cy-Falls) hit a double in the seventh, but that was one of only two Lions who reached second the rest of the game. 

At the bottom of the seventh, the leadoff Javelina reached an error, putting the tying runner on base early. The Lions escaped with the win. It was after a foul out on a sacrifice bunt attempt, a strikeout, and a flyout. 

GAME TWO – Javelinas 3, Lions 2 (12 innings)

The late-inning emotions swung wildly for the Lions, who were one out away from taking the sweep in the longest game in program history. 

Madison Schaefer (Frisco – Independence), Dugi, Avery Boley (Fort Worth – Nolan Catholic), and Chealsea Slider (Texarkana – Texas High) each had two hits in the game. 

Slider’s leadoff single in the third turned into the opening run after pinch-runner Kimber Neal moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Schaefer’s single. 

LeBlanc was strong in the circle throughout the game, working around trouble all day. The Javelinas stranded runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings. The hosts tied the game with their first run of the day on a two-out single in the fourth, making it 1-all. 

As the game progressed, tension remained high, with no runners advancing to scoring position until the 11th inning. Schaefer doubled with one out in the 11th and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt but went no further. 

A&M-Kingsville pushed a runner to third in the bottom of the 11th with two outs, but the Lions induced a fielder’s choice to force the 12th inning. 

LeBlanc hammered a 3-1 pitch deep over the centerfield wall to lead off the 12th inning, celebrating around the bases as she gave the Lions a 2-1 lead.

She was one out away from the victory until Anastasia Leibas singled, and Matisen Onofrei hit a two-run walk-off home run to left field, ending the game with the Hogs out in front 3-2. Onofrei was 0-for-8 on the day before the hit and had stranded eight runners on base. The homer was the only extra-base hit all day for the Javelinas. 

They tagged LeBlanc with the loss falling to 13-6 despite going 11 2/3 innings, striking out seven, and walking four with 11 hits conceded.

 

Lion women and men each take championships at ET Invitational.

COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce track and field teams each picked up championships in their annual home event, as the Lions earned dominant point totals in the East Texas Invitational. 

FULL RESULTS are available here and posted in PDF format on Sunday.

The men’s and women’s 4×400 meter relay teams were the meet’s champions, with the men winning in 3:15.15 and the women winning in 3:53.65. 

Three Lions were champions in running events. With Shadaria Hall winning the women’s 100-meter dash in 12.18 seconds, Minna Svaerd won the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 59.35 seconds, and Nicodemus Rotich is winning the men’s 5,000-meter run in 14:14.80. 

Svaerd’s time ranks second in the nation, and Rotich’s time ranks 15th nationally, and both of those marks are provisional qualifying marks for the national meet. 

The field events for the Lions dominated the field, with 11 entries winning their championship. 

Hailey Wanoreck (Hamshire-Fannett) won the women’s hammer throw at 53.99 meters (177′ 1″) and the women’s discus throw at 46.99 meters (154′ 2″). 

Keeley Norris (Texarkana – Liberty-Eylau) was also a double champion, winning the women’s long jump at 5.86 meters (19′ 2 ¾”) and the women’s triple jump at 11.13 meters (36′ 6 ¼”). 

The Lion women completed a sweep of the throws, with Candesha Scott (Grenada) winning the women’s javelin throw at 45.28 meters (148′ 7″) and Iniuto Ukpong (Mansfield – Legacy) winning the women’s shot put at 13.22 meters (43′ 4 ½”). 

In addition to her 400-meter hurdle title and anchoring the 4×400 meter relay, Svaerd was the women’s pole vault champion at 3.60 meters (11′ 9 ¾”). 

Micky Ferdinand (Micoud, St. Lucia) won the men’s high jump at 2.05 meters (6′ 8 ¾”), and Chelsea Cheek (Baytown – Lee) was the women’s high jump winner at 1.60 meters (5′ 3″). 

Steven Sanchez (New Braunfels) won the men’s hammer throw at 52.69 meters (172′ 10″), and Ryan Amador (Jonesboro, Ark.) won the men’s shot put at 15.88 meters (52′ 1 ¼”).