Box Score

CANYON, Texas – The Angelo State softball team lost a close one to No. 8 West Texas A&M 8-7 in the semi-final round of the Lone Star Conference Softball Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Rambelles (35-16) out hit West Texas A&M (43-10) 13-10 but it was the Lady Buffs with the biggest hit at the end.
Down 6-3 in the top of the sixth inning, Angelo State mounted a charge. Darian Dunn led the inning off with a single to left field.

Amanda Wilhelm, who already hit one home run in the fourth inning, stepped to the plate and blasted a shot to left center to tie the game at five. It was the senior's second and third home runs of the season.

A single by Ambra Hill gave Kacie Easley a chance to hit. The Lady Buffs made their third pitching change of the day and brought in Adriana Garcia. Easley welcomed her to the game with a two-run home run to left center to put the Rambelles up 7-6. It is the senior's 42^nd home run of her career and 10^th of the season.

West Texas A&M would tie it in the bottom of the sixth inning after Brittany Gehle scored on a Jessica Sipe single.

The Rambelles would put a runner on the top of the 7^th after Rachel Moore was able to get a lead-off walk. ASU couldn't capitalize on the runner and headed to the bottom of the 7^th inning tied at seven.

The Lady Buffs were able to load the bases on Mary Kate McKay. The junior came in to pitch in the fourth inning for Sandra Serna. Alyssa Lemos hit a ball down the left field line that stayed just fair for the game-winning RBI single.

McKay was credit with the loss and moves to 13-10 on the season. She pitched three and a third innings while giving up four hits and three earned runs. Serna started and pitched three innings and allowed five runs of which four were earned.

Garcia moved to 7-1 with the win after pitching one and two-thirds of an inning.  

West Texas A&M jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first with a Renee Erwin two-run home run off Serna.

The Rambelles responded in the top of the third with a Morgan Spearman and Carly Peters both hit RBI singles to score Easley and Lauren Smith to tie the game at two.

The Lady Buffs came back with two of their own to take a 4-2 advantage after Lemos and Gehle hit back-to-back doubles to start the inning. Erwin hit a sacrifice fly to score Lemos and Gehle crossed the plate on an Allie Cranfill single.   

Wilhelm hit her first home run to left field in the fourth to cut the WT lead to 4-3.

Mental errors plagued the Rambelles in the fourth as WT was able to score an unearned run on a throwing error to make it 5-3 WT. The Lady Buffs extended their lead to 6-3 with a solo shot from Sipe.

The Rambelles will now wait until Monday at 10:30 a.m. when the selections are made for the NCAA Division II Softball Tournament. The selection show will be streamed online at NCAA.com.