SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The first Heartland Conference Softball Championship tournament outing ended on a sour note for the Newman softball team. Top-seeded St. Mary's handed the Jets a 9-2 loss in Thursday's opening round.

St. Mary's (34-17) drew first blood in Thursday's contest. The Rattlers struck for two runs on three hits, and took a 2-0 lead after the first inning of play. Two innings later, Newman (12-28) sliced the Rattler lead in half when Emily Zimmerman sent a solo bomb over the left field fence, drawing the Jets to within one run, 2-1, after three innings.

Things fell apart quickly for the Jets in the bottom of the fourth, when the Rattlers notched four hits and took advantage of two Newman errors to plate five runs and take a 7-1 lead with three innings remaining.

The Jets were able to get one of those runs back in the fifth. Tracey Stefanski opened the fifth with a double to right-center, then scored on a single up the middle by Sydney Sloan. After five innings, Newman had trimmed the St. Mary's advantage to 7-2.

St. Mary's ended the game the same way it started it, adding two more runs on three hits and one Newman error to send two runs across the plate on its way to the 9-2 win.

Emily Zimmerman led the Jets at the plate, finishing 2-for-4 with a run scored and one batted in. She was the only Jet to finish with a multi-hit game. Newman starter Sarah Fipps pitched the entire game, giving up nine runs (six earned) on 13 hits in six innings of work, while falling to 5-11 on the season.

Newman will return to action Friday at 2 p.m., taking on third-seeded St. Edward's in an elimination game at St. Mary's Softball Field.