San Angelo, Texas – No. 14 Angelo State scored two runs in the second inning of game one to hold on for the 4-2 win and scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth of game to supplant A&M-Commerce 3-2 taking Saturday's Lone Star Conference doubleheader.
Angelo State lit scoreboard up first when Camry Weinheimer launched a two-run homer deep over the centerfield fence in the second. After the Lions went down scoreless in the top of the third, ASU had runners on first and second with one out when weather in the area caused a two-hour and 18-minute delay. After play resumed,
Courtney Moore calmly ended the Rambelle threat with a ground ball to second.
ASU put runners on first and third after Megan Granado earned a walk and Lanie Robinson singled down the right field line. Michele Koria followed and doubled home Granado with a ball into the left center gap to give the Rams a 3-0 lead.
A&M-Commerce broke through with two runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Johnna Sturm led off with a walk, and
Monica Cherry reached on a bunt single. The throw to get Cherry at first was late and off the mark allowing pinch runner,
Danielle Guerra, to scamper around the third. After an out on a groundball back the pitcher,
Magen Lynch beat out and infield single that scored Guerra from third. Cherry advanced to third on the play and scored when Oppenheim hit a ground out to third cutting the Lion deficit down to 3-2.
Robinson started a two-out rally for the Rambelles with a single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth, and Koria followed with an RBI double to right center plating Robinson all the way from first after the Lions were sluggish with the relay to home. Koria's RBI held up to be the final run of the game as Kenedy Urbany picked up her second complete game win of the series after shutting the Lions down in the top of the seventh.
Urbany allowed only four hits and one earned run in the win. Moore, was saddled with the loss for the Lions after giving up 10 hits in her six innings of work. Moore suffered her second straight complete game loss in the series despite turning in two quality starts.
Lynch was the lone Lion to record multiple hits in the game after going 2-for-4 at the dish for her 15th multi-hit game of the season.
Kylene Hatton saw her 15-game on-base streak come to a close and her 10-game inning streak end.
Luci Ponce also snapped a 14-game on base streak.
Cherry gave the Lions the lead in the second inning of game two with a bloop RBI single to right that scored Guerra, who entered as a pinch runner after
December Rivers started the rally with a two-out single.
Aundria Zunigia-Romero was fantastic in the circle for the Lions. She kept the Rambelle hitters off batters and preserved the 1-0 lead until the sixth inning when ASU broke through. Rachel Moore led off the sixth reaching on a Lion error. After a ground out and a fly out, Tina Cisneros and Granado each drew walks to load the bases. Both batters worked the count full against Zunigia-Romero before finally earning their way on base. Weinheimer knocked a 2-2 pitch back up the middle to bring in Cisneros, the tying run, and Granado, the game-winning run, on the play.
Zunigia-Romero ended the inning with her sixth strikeout of the game, but the Lions went down quietly in the top of the seventh to give ASU a 2-1 win. Brandy Marlett picked up her second complete game win of the series and the fourth such for a Rambelle pitcher during the four-game set. Marlett allowed just four hits and struck out five Lion batters. Zunigia-Romero took the loss for the Lions in the circle after allowing only three hits and the two runs, neither of which were earned.
The Lions fall to 23-23 overall and 12-14 in the LSC after the series. A&M-Commerce will wrap up its inaugural 2015 season in the same place it started, the John Cain Family Softball Field, with a doubleheader against Southern Arkansas Tuesday, April 21 at 4p.m.
Fans can follow all the action from the 2014-15 season on www.LionAthletics.com, through twitter @Lion_Athletics and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LionsAthletics.
