San Jacinto College softball defeats Tallahassee CC, 5-2

Kyle Smith - 5/15/2008 Alex Naschke (League City, TX) was welcomed back to the dugout with cheers and high fives after putting San Jacinto College up 2-1 over Tallahassee Community College in first-round action of the NJCAA national tournament.

PLANT CITY, Florida – Finding their groove in the late innings in round one of the 2008 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Fast Pitch National Championship, San Jacinto College’s softball team defeated Tallahassee Community College (TCC) 5-2. San Jac (38-15) started the game swinging putting two runners on base, but they were unable to bring them home. TCC scored early in the game driving in one run in the second, but the two teams would go scoreless until the seventh.

San Jac’s Stephanie Runge (League City, TX) and Brittany Boren (Bryan, TX) quickly got on base in the seventh and were driven in off of Alex Naschke’s (League City, TX) triple to deep right field, making the score 2-1. TCC would then tie it up at two all with a one run homer in the bottom of the seventh.

Building off the slight awakening of the bats in the seventh, San Jac quickly put two runners on in the top of the eighth. San Jac’s second basemen, Janet Rendon (Houston, TX), then stepped up to the plate and drove in Cheyenne Parent (Guy, TX) putting San Jac up 3-2. With two runners on, Kelsey McClain (Pasadena, TX) drove in Krystal Plummer (Angleton, TX) and Rendon.

Going into the bottom of the eighth, San Jac was on top 5-2. McClain took the mound and continued to produce solid pitching to finish off TCC and get the win. “When they tied it up in the seventh, I knew we still had a shot to win it in extra innings,” said fifth-year head coach Kelly Saenz. “I couldn’t have asked for a better time for the girls to start hitting like they did. It really made for a good game.”

San Jac will play Wallace State Community College at 7 p.m. (CDT), Thursday, May 15, 2008, in Plant City, Florida. For a complete 2008 NJCAA Division I Fast Pitch National Championship bracket and updates, please visit http://www.internationalsoftball.com/.

For more information about the San Jacinto College softball program, visit www.sanjac.edu/athletics.