Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN ANTONIO – After spending last weekend on the east coast, Tarleton returned to Texas with a bang by sweeping the first day of the St. Mary's Round Robin – knocking off Lubbock Christian and St. Mary's.
 
“We played much more detail-oriented softball today,” said head coach Julie Mata. “I was proud of the way Randi, Brenna and Bailee worked against two talented offensive teams. We got outs on defense, ran the bases offensively and our bats came back to life. Rachel Brownlow also had a great day today.
 
“I feel like the quality competition we saw last weekend really helped us prepare for these teams,” she added.
   
Tarleton snapped its modest three-game skid Friday afternoon by riding a three-run third inning past the NAIA No. 2-ranked Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps 4-2 in the first of four games in the St. Mary's Round Robin Tournament.
 
After the Lady Chaps pitcher and Tarleton's Randi Fentress traded goose eggs over the first two innings, the TexAnn offense struck in the top of the third.
 
Hannah Hancock – who would be pinch ran for by Shelby Tinkepaugh – and Kelsey Latta opened the inning with back-to-back walks. After a strikeout, Melody Mayse laced a one-out double to the right center gap to bring Tinklepaugh home from second and set up runners on second and third with one away.
 
Rachel Brownlow answered the RBI opportunity with a single down the left field line to plate Latta and move Mayse to third. Brownlow advanced to second on the throw.
 
Arianna Rodriguez plated the final run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to left field to score Mayse and put the TexAnns up 3-0.
 
Neither team made a move until the bottom of the fourth when Lubbock Christian inched closer with a run on an RBI single to plate a runner from second with two outs. Fentress forced a pop up to second to get out of the inning without any further damage.
 
Tarleton immediately got that one back in the top of the fifth when Latta led off the inning with a single and eventually came around to score on back-to-back errors by LCU. The Lady Chaps forced two outs at the plate to keep Tarleton from piling on any more in the fifth.
 
Both teams stayed scoreless until the bottom of the seventh when LCU added the final run of the game on a sacrifice fly, but Fentress got a swinging strikeout to end it at 4-2.
 
Fentress went the distance allowing two runs on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
 
Brownlow was the only TexAnn with a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. Mayse and Latta had the only other hits – both singles – for Tarleton on the afternoon.
 
Tarleton improved to 8-6 with the win while Lubbock Christian fell to 12-4 on the season.
   
To round out the opening day of the St. Mary's Round Robin Tournament, Tarleton handed the tournament-host Rattlers a 13-6 loss in the nightcap Friday night.
 
The Rattlers got on the board first with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead.
 
It wasn't until the third when the TexAnn offense came alive with a five-run inning, sparked by a one-out double from Brownlow.
 
After an error and a strikeout appeared to leave the TexAnns scoreless again, Amber Clifford kept the inning alive with a one-bagger to load the bases.
 
Bailee Mauldin drove in two runs on a Rattlers miscue before Courtney Vroman belted the big blast of the inning – a bases-clearing triple, coming in to score on the third Rattler error of the game – to put Tarleton up 5-2.
 
Tarleton couldn't add to the lead over the next two innings, but St. Mary's inched closer in the bottom of the fifth with a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 5-3.
 
In the sixth, Tarleton pulled away by putting up a six spot.
 
Mauldin kicked off the inning with a double to right center. After a groundout moved Mauldin to third and Samantha Allen came in to run, Hancock drove her in with an RBI single. After the TexAnns loaded the bases, Brownlow coaxed a bases loaded walk to plate the second TexAnn run of the inning.
 
Tarleton finished off the inning with a pair of 2-RBI singles from Rodriguez and Clifford to bring the Tarleton lead to 11-3.
 
St. Mary's scored one more in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double. Each team added a two spot in the seventh with Tarleton's runs coming on a 2-RBI triple from Brownlow. The Rattlers added two RBI singles to bring the game to its final score.
 
Brenna Hennan got the win for Tarleton after pitching 6.1 innings allowing six runs – five earned – on nine hits and six walks while striking out seven. Fentress came in to relieve in the seventh to get the final two outs.
 
Brownlow (2-4, 3 RBIs), Rodriguez (2-5, 2 RBIs), and Clifford (2-4, 2 RBIs) each had a multi-hit, multi-RBI game for the TexAnns while Mayse, Mauldin, Vroman, Hancock and Eryn Freitas each had a hit each for Tarleton.
 
The TexAnns will wrap up the tournament Saturday with back-to-back games against Lubbock Christian and St. Mary's again tomorrow.