CANYON – The No. 11 Angelo State softball team improved to 8-0 on the season after two wins over Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State-Pueblo on the first day of the WT Woodward Invitational on Friday.

"It was a good start to the tournament," ASU head softball coach Travis Scott said. "Kenedy (Urbany) and Brandy (Marlett) threw the ball well again. I was thrilled with the bottom of the sixth inning in game one. Katlyn (Herzog), Amber (Rendon) and Lauryn (Donnelly) all get on base and then Kelly Johnson finished the game with a grand slam. It's always nice to see the role players come in and have success. We got production up and down the lineup. We have two very tough games tomorrow and we have to be mentally ready for them."

The Rambelles (8-0) struck early against Colorado School of Mines (1-6) in the first game. Madison Greenwell led the game off with a single and stole her seventh base of the season. The freshman advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Micherie Koria and Darian Dunn drove her home with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 after first.

Urbany held CSM scoreless through the first three innings limiting CSM to just three hits. The Orediggers added two runs in the fourth after a two RBI double gave CMS a 2-1 lead.

ASU responded big in the bottom of the fourth. Rachel Moore recorded her second double of the game and moved to third on a single by Kenedy Urbany. Tina Cisneros singled to score Moore followed by a double by freshman Camry Weinheimer to plate pinch runner Brooke Mangold. Megan Granado was up with bases loaded and brought home the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Up 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth, ASU added two more runs. Micherie Koria got an infield hit to second base and scored on Moore's third hit and third RBI of the game. Moore would later score on an CSM error to extend the lead to 6-2.

The Orediggers threatened with runners at second and third but Urbany forced a line out to second base to end the fifth. The sophomore moved to 4-0 on the season after pitching 6.0 innings and only allowing two earned runs. She recorded a season-high five strikeouts and didn't give up a walk.

The Rambelles put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Katlyn Herzog and Amber Rendon came in to pinch hit and each got on base with singles. Lauryn Donnelly drew a walk to load the bases. Kelly Johnson stepped to the plate and blasted a grand slam to left center to end the game by run-rule.  It is her second home run of her ASU career and both have been grand slams.

ASU was able to get on the board first in game two against CSU-Pueblo (4-4). Three runs came across in the bottom of the second inning. Granado hit a double down the right field line and was sacrificed to second base by Ciara Sheppard. Ambra Hill earned an RBI on a grounder to second base for the first run of the game. Back-to-back doubles from Greenwell and Koria made it 2-0 while Dunn reached on an error by the first baseman. Koria took advantage of the error scoring to make it 3-0.

Hill added a run in the fourth for the Rambelles. The junior hit an infield single and scored on a squeeze bunt by Koria. It was Koria's second RBI of the game. Cisneros drew a walk in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. Granado plated the senior with her second double of the game to make it 4-0 after five innings.

Brandy Marlett had another stellar outing. The freshman only allowed four hits through the first five innings but CSU-Pueblo scored the first earned runs of the season off Marlett in the sixth. The Thunderwolves added three runs, two earned, on two hits and one error to cut ASU's lead to 4-3 in the sixth.

The Rambelles added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Sheppard singled to left field and Johnson came in to pinch run. An error by the second baseman allowed Greenwell to reach and Johnson scored after a stolen base. Koria singled to left field and scored the final ASu run on a single by Moore.

Marlett won her fourth game of the season allowing only six hits and striking out six batters in 7.0innings.

The Rambelles start day two of the WT Woodward Invitational at 1:45 p.m. against Colorado Mesa. Game two is scheduled for 4 p.m. versus Adams State.