LAWTON, Oklahoma – The No. 1 Angelo State softball team became the first team in college softball to reach the 50-win plateau and secured the outright Lone Star Conference Championship in a doubleheader sweep of Cameron in Lawton on Friday afternoon.
The Rambelles improve to 51-4 and 26-3 in the Lone Star Conference. It is ASU's seventh regular season crown in program history. Angelo State recorded 16 hits in the two games and scored 16 runs while holding a potent Cameron (32-17, 20-8 LSC) to eight runs on 13 hits. It is the fourth time in program history that ASU has won at least 50 games in a season.
"Anytime you can go into a Lone Star Conference game and win late on the road is a good thing," Angelo State head softball coach Travis Scott said. "I wasn't happy with our energy early and the way we came off the bus. It was great to see them battle back and find a way to win it. They put pressure on us but it was a big wins. It means a lot to be able to win the LSC Championships outright. It was a goal from the beginning of the year and to know we have accomplished is big."
Angelo State had to mount a comeback in game one after leading early in the third inning. Brooke Mangold hit an infield single and stole second. Madison Greenwell hit a RBI single to left field to score Mangold from second for a 1-0 lead.
Cameron tied the game in the fourth with a solo home run and took the lead with an unearned run a few batters later. The Aggie extended their lead in the sixth with a pair of runs to make it 4-1.
ASU went into the seventh trailing for just the fifth time this season. Amanda Ramage started the inning with a bang hitting a solo home run to left field. After a single by Mangold, Bailey Wallace drew a walk and Kenedy Urbany was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Courtney Barnhill singled to center field to tie the game at four. With runners at second and third, Alexis Evans hit a ball to the second baseman that was bobbled and allowed pinch runner Kelly Johnson and Barnhill score for a 6-4 advantage going into the bottom of the seventh.
Brandy Marlett came out in the seventh to a complete game but not without facing some adversity. Cameron cut the lead to 6-5 with runners on first and second but Marlett ended the game with her 10th strikeout of the game. The junior improved to 26-3 on the season scattering five runs on six hits.
The Rambelles bats came alive in the second game including four runs in the top of the first. Urbany, who started the game in the circle, doubled down the left field line to score Greenwell after her double led the game off. Taegan Kirk recorded ASU's third double of the inning to bring around Urbany. Evans capped off the inning by crushing her eighth home run of the season to center field to make it 4-0.
Urbany would only allow one hit over the first two innings but the Aggies cut into ASU's lead scoring an unearned run. Greenwell got the run back in the fifth with a RBI single up the middle to push the advantage to 5-1.
Cameron scored a run in the fifth and had the bases loaded before Morgan Hill came in to end the threat with a liner to first base.
ASU busted the game open in the sixth with five runs. Urbany and Barnhill drew walks and Evans continued her stellar game with a two-RBI single. Mangold added the final two runs with a single to right field to make it 10-3.
Hill closed the game out to earn her sixth save of the season and tying Chelsea Nelson's single season record set in 2010. Urbany earned her 18th win of the season after only allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits.
The Rambelles will close out the regular season with the series finale against Cameron at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Lawton.
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