The Blinn College softball team split a twin bill with Navarro College on the road Saturday in Corsicana, Texas.
The Buccaneers dropped the opener 8-7 in eight innings before taking the finale 7-6.
Blinn is now 7-1 overall.
The Bulldogs earned the victory in game one with a single run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Blinn led 7-5 entering the bottom of the sixth frame before Navarro rallied for the walk-off victory.
The Bucs finished with 11 hits, including a 3-for-3 game for freshman Erynne Castillo. She tripled, drove in two runs and scored one. Sophomore Madeline Stephenson doubled as part of a two-hit game, scored two runs and plated one. Sophomore Emily Kristynik as well as freshmen Alayna Calvillo and Alyssa Boozy had a base hit and one RBI apiece.
Freshman pitcher Sydnie Cline was tagged with the loss after allowing two earned runs in two innings of relief.
Blinn held off a late Navarro rally to earn the victory in game two.
After taking a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh, the Buccaneers needed a strikeout from sophomore pitcher Skylar Shanahan to end a four-run rally for the Bulldogs and finish the game.
Shanahan tossed a complete game in which she allowed six earned runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
Blinn's lineup produced 12 hits and drew six walks.
Shanahan helped her own cause with a three-run home run in the top of the fifth. Kristynik also homered, a two-run blast in the third.
(Pictured: Blinn freshman Erynne Castillo)
Castillo smacked a much-needed two-run triple in the top of the seventh that scored Shanahan and Stephenson and proved to be the difference in the ballgame.
Castillo finished with three hits. Shanahan, Boozy, and sophomore Kenley Strange each tallied a pair of hits.
The Bucs resume their season at the Battle at the Bosque beginning with a 9 a.m. tilt against McLennan Community College on Friday, Feb. 17, in Waco, Texas. Blinn will also face College of Southern Idaho (CSI) in the tournament at 2 p.m. on Friday before finishing with a second clash with CSI at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
