Buccaneers enter postseason on seven-game win streak

LUFKIN, Texas – The Blinn Buccaneers are officially on a roll heading into the postseason.

Blinn defeated Angelina 9-0 and 6-2 here Tuesday afternoon and will head to the Region XIV Softball Tournament with a seven-game win streak in tow. The Buccaneers have won 10 of their last 11 ballgames.

Freshman Shannon O'Connor (16-10) spun a two-hitter in the opening game of Tuesday's double-header, walking one while striking out six.

Tiffani McKnight hit a sacrifice fly and Caitie Carney scored on an error to give the Bucs a 2-0 lead in the second inning. An RBI single by Taylor Guidry and a two-run home run by Carney broke the game open in the third, and in the seventh the Bucs added four more runs as Shelbe Sterling homered and Sydney Wellmann added an RBI single.

Guidry finished the game with three hits while McKnight, Carney and Sterling each had two.

Carney (11-6) earned the win in the circle in Game 2, as she scattered five hits and three walks. O'Connor entered the game with one out in the sixth and retired the final five hitters.

Sterling got the Buccaneers on the scoreboard in the third inning with an RBI single, and Davila and Wellmann each hit sacrifice flies in the fifth to make it 3-0.

In the sixth, Wellmann hit a three-run double to break the game open.

The Buccaneers conclude the regular season with a 31-18 record, including a 17-7 mark in the Region XIV Conference. The conference tournament will be hosted by Navarro College May 2-5 in Corsicana.

Blinn currently sits in third place in the Region XIV South Zone, but could finish second if Angelina wins one of its four games against San Jacinto this week. If Blinn finishes second, it will face the East Zone's third seed in the opening round of the tournament; if it remains in third it will play the No. 2 seed.