Follow @HBUSoftball

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The HBU softball team was held in check for most of its Saturday afternoon game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Chapman Field, falling to the Islanders by a score of 4-1.
 
HBU (15-22, 6-15 SLC) starting pitcher Shae Bibby ran into trouble immediately as the first two Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-30, 3-15 SLC) batters reached on singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first. Bibby clamped down, however, inducing an infield fly and a ground ball to short which Libby Brown fired home to get the lead runner and the second out. With the bases still loaded, Bibby got another groundout to end the inning and strand three runners.
 
In the top of the second, Brooke Bushman drew a two-out walk before promptly stealing second. A walk to Megan Hiers put runners on first and second with two outs but Demi Janak's strikeout on a nine-pitch at bat ended the Huskies' half of the inning. Savannah Sandoval led off the bottom of the third with her second single of the game, moving up to second on a groundout to third. Kandace Johnson grounded into a fielder's choice, reaching first while Sandoval was retired at third for the second out of the frame. Bibby then walked Liz Carter before giving up a two-run double off the bat of Candice Hadd, giving the Islanders a 2-0 advantage through three innings.
 
In the fourth, with one out, Nicole Shedd reached on a hit-by-pitch and was followed by Libby Brown's single to third, giving the Huskies their first hit of the game and runners on first and second with just one out. Both runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch but Carter was able to strike out Bushman for the second out. After a walk to Hiers loaded the bases, Janak grounded out to short to end the HBU threat.
 
Kay Schroeder led off the fifth with a single to right center, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Heidi Jaquez. Two batters later, Schroeder came around to score and get the Huskies on the board thanks to a throwing error by Carter on a grounder by Kassie James. In the bottom half of the fifth, a single and a double by the Islanders put runners in scoring position with one out. The next batter, Carter, hit a sacrifice fly to left that was deep enough to allow Mackinzee Griebel to score and pinch runner Alexis Richardson to move over to third. Hadd followed with a single to right to score Richardson and extend the Islander lead to 4-1.
 
Carter, who threw 195 pitches on Friday, retired the side in order in both the sixth and seventh innings, holding the Huskies to just two hits in the game.
 
Brown and Schroeder accounted for HBU's two hits, both of them singles. Bibby suffered the loss in the circle, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and a walk over four and two-thirds innings. The freshman falls to 2-4 for the season. Stephanie Buenrostro worked one and a third innings in relief, scattering four hits without allowing a run.
 
The Huskies will return home to Husky Field to close out the regular season with a pair of Southland series. First up is Northwestern State with a pair of games scheduled for Friday, April 28, beginning at 1:00 p.m. and a single game at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 29.