SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Manhattan Jaspers softball team (0-4), fell tight in both of their Saturday games against the Panthers from Prairie View A&M (2-1) and the Cardinals of Incarnate Word (3-0) by the final scores of 5-3 and 7-6 at H-E-B Field on Saturday afternoon.
GAME ONE: Manhattan 3, Prairie View A&M 5
- After surrendering the opening run of the contest in the second frame, Kaitlyn Moody put herself in scoring position in the home half with a leadoff double.
- Two batters later, Lainey Brown went deep to retake the lead by the end of inning number two.
- As both teams went hitless for the next two innings, the Panthers put together a two RBI single in the fifth to grab back the advantage.
- Another pair of insurance runs came home for the road team as the Jaspers faced a three run deficit in the seventh.
- Brown was hit by a pitch to start the final frame, and Samantha Kelly later ripped a double to cut the lead to two, but it wasn't enough as Prairie View A&M held on.
- Natalye DeBus pitched five innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits and striking out five.
- Caitlin Mullen and Karissa Spring took 27 combined pitches to get through the final two frames, with two earned runs off four hits.
GAME TWO: Manhattan 6, Incarnate Word 7
- Incarnate Word tallied two scores in the first for an early advantage.
- Mia Magriz walked to open the second inning, with two bunts advancing pinch runner Giomi to third base, with the first not resulting in an out.
- Kalyn Markel's subsequent groundout to second was slow enough to bring home a run to cut the deficit in half by the end of the second frame.
- As the Cardinals once again increased their lead to two, Brown connected on her second home run of the day, bringing the game to 3-2 by the middle of the fourth.
- Facing a three run hole to open the fifth, Moody and Magriz both slapped a pair of singles together to bring Incarnate Word's lead back to one.
- Brown then accumulated another extra base hit, this time in form of a triple to score Moody and Magriz and give the Green and White a 6-5 lead.
- With one out in the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals' Jaisy Caceres hit a game-tying double to right field.
- Incarnate Word then connected on a walk-off double to end the afternoon.
- Karissa Spring and Caitlin Gaetani equally split the 6.1 innings, with Gaetani getting the 3.1. The pair gave up six earned runs off of 14 hits.
STATS AND NOTES
- Freshman infielder Lainey Brown had a stellar day on the stat sheets, collecting five RBI including two home runs.
- Freshman utility player Natalye DeBus pitched five innings and tallied two hits, contributing on both fronts on the diamond.
NEXT UP:
Manhattan will continue its 2026 campaign tomorrow, Sunday, February 8 when the Jaspers finish the UIW Tournament against the Braves from Bradley. There will be no video broadcast, but live statistics will be available.
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