Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 ARKADELPHIA, AR – Due to weather concerns in tomorrow's forecast, Tarleton State opened the season with three consecutive games Saturday afternoon with the TexAnns taking the first two before letting one slip away in the finale.
 
"We kind of let the wind get knocked out of us and we learned a valuable lesson about keeping our cool in the fifth inning of game three. You don't often have to play three games in a row on two different fields and I think we probably let fatigue, the rain and some uncontrollable things take us out of what was working so well all day."
   
Tarleton had a surge of power in the season opener as a trio of home run hitters, as well as a complete game victory from opening day starter, Randi Fentress, lifted the TexAnns to their first win of the season Saturday afternoon.
 
Freshman Kendra Mendoza made her presence known very quickly by homering in her first collegiate at-bat, blasting a two-run bomb to plate herself and Katelyn Conlee and give the TexAnns an early 2-0 lead.
 
After a pair of shutdown innings from Fentress, Tarleton tacked on another run in the top of the third when Bailee Mauldin plated Kelsey Latta, who was hit by the pitch and sacrificed all the way around to third base. Mauldin drove in Latta with a two-out single.
 
Fentress continued to mow down the Tigers, not allowing a single hit until a one-out single in the fourth inning, but the TexAnn offense continued to provide run support by adding two more in the fifth when Mauldin connected on a two-run homer to make it a 5-0 Tarleton lead.
 
The Tigers ended the shutout bid in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out double, but Fentress responded to force a flyout to left field to end the inning.
 
Tarleton answered right back with a four-spot in the top of the seventh, beginning with a single and stolen base from Melody Mayse. Mayse got to jog the final two bases on her way home when Conlee connected for her first long ball of the season to make it a 7-2 Tarleton lead.
 
After back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out, Erika Menchaca got her first career RBI with single to bring home pinch-runner Mikayla Stogsdill from third. Latta also took advantage of the opportunity with a two-out single to bring home Mendoza for Tarleton's ninth run of the game.
 
Fentress earned the win for Tarleton with a complete game effort, striking out seven and allowing just four hits and no walks.
 
Mauldin went 3-4 at the dish with a run scored and three RBIs while Conlee went 2-2 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Mendoza and Menchaca also had multi-hit games in their collegiate debuts, going 2-4. Mendoza had two runs scored and an RBI while Menchaca drove in one.
 
Amber Clifford, Latta and Mayse each had one hit for the TexAnns, who recorded 12 as a team.
   
Tarleton continued its winning ways in the second game of the afternoon as Fentress earned her second victory of the season with five spotless innings of relief en route to an 8-2 victory over Henderson State Saturday.
 
Conlee got the TexAnns on the board early after reaching on an error with one out in the opening inning. The sophomore was driven home on the next at-bat by Mauldin, who produced her fourth RBI in the first eight innings of the season.
 
After a flawless first inning, Hennan ran into some trouble in the second when she surrendered a pair of unearned runs. Fentress would come in to replace Hennan in the top of the third.
 
Tarleton added single runs in the fourth and the fifth off the bat of freshman Erika Menchaca, who belted her first career homer in the fourth and plated pinch-runner Miranda West with an RBI double in the fifth to put Tarleton up 3-2 after four and a half.
 
As Fentress continued her dominance, the TexAnns exploded for a five-spot in the sixth inning with the help of patient eyes at the plate. The TexAnns scored five runs on six walks, two wild pitches, a passed ball and a double steal in which Mauldin scored on a steal of home to put the TexAnns up 8-2.
 
Fentress allowed one more baserunner to the Lady Reddies over the last two innings as the TexAnns went on to victory. The senior hurler earned the victory with five innings of shutout relief allowing just three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
 
Menchaca was the only TexAnn with a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with a run scored and three RBIs while Mayse, Mauldin, Taylor Wells, Clifford and Eryn Freitas had the remainder of Tarleton's seven hits for the game.
   
In the final game of opening day, Tarleton was locked in a pitcher's duel through four innings but couldn't hold on as Delta State scored nine unanswered runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take the third game of the season from Tarleton 10-2.
 
The Statesmen scored first on a Tarleton error, but the TexAnns would respond quickly with solo runs in the second and third off RBI singles from Wells and Mendoza, respectively, to put Tarleton on top 2-1. They would take that lead into the fifth.
 
Delta State answered with three in the fifth on a 2-RBI single and an RBI double before putting up a six-spot in the sixth on four walks, two hit by pitches and an error. Tarleton got a pair of runners in the bottom of the sixth but couldn't extend the game.
 
Wells took the loss in her Tarleton pitching debut, throwing 4.1 innings allowing four runs – three earned – on five hits and three walks. Conlee pitched the final 1.2 innings allowing six runs – four earned – on one hit and five walks with a strikeout.
 
Tarleton got four hits in the game, this big one a triple from Melody Mayse who finished 1-2 in the game. Freitas, Mendoza and Wells had the other hits for Tarleton.
 
With one team not showing up to play their originally scheduled games, tomorrow's TexAnn schedule has changed. Tarleton is tentatively scheduled, weather permitting, to play Ouachita Baptist at 12 p.m. and Henderson State at 2:30 p.m.