SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State softball team bounced back from their series-opening loss against St. Edward's with a pair of wins this afternoon against the Hilltoppers to claim the series, taking game one 5-2 before winning the series 5-1 in game three.
The Hilltoppers opened the scoring in the first inning of game one before the Rambelles responded with four runs in the second.
Ashton McMillan led the second off with a walk before advancing on a groundout.
Maleya Burns' infield single would put two runners on, and an
Ashton Dirner bunt single would load the bases.
Freshman
Tatiana Trotter singled through the right side to score McMillan and tie the game;
Ashlyn Lerma drew a walk to drive in another run, and
Paxton Scheurer would complete the scoring by driving in two more runs, making the advantage 4-1 in favor of the hosts.
The Hilltoppers would pull a run back to make it 4-2, where the score remained until the sixth inning.
Keilei Garcia led the bottom of the sixth off with a double; pinch-runner
Layni Tanner advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on a perfectly-executed squeeze bunt by Dirner to make it 5-2.
Torrey Hogan collected her sixth win of the season, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out seven Hilltoppers.
Lerma led the third inning of game two off with a single before stealing second and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt; Scheurer would draw a four-pitch walk to put two runners on for
Bailey Martinez, who promptly drove both runs in to give the Rambelles a 2-0 lead.
Burns singled with one out in the fourth inning; Dirner, the next batter, would single into left, with both runners advancing two additional bases on a fielding error by the Hilltoppers' left fielder, scoring Burns.
Dirner would score on a passed ball to make the score 4-0.
The fifth inning would see Garcia homer over the left field fence, her ninth of the season, to extend the Rambelles' lead to 5-0; the Hilltoppers scored a run and threatened more in the last two frames, but ultimately did not push anything across.
Cheyenne Floyd picked up the win, her seventh this season, only allowing six hits and one run across seven innings of work; she struck out three Hilltoppers.
The Rambelles improve to 26-18 on the season and 18-15 in conference play; they are back in action on the road Tuesday and Wednesday as they face off against Texas A&M International.
