SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State softball team closes their home schedule out this weekend, hosting St. Edward's on Friday (4 p.m. start time) before hosting St. Mary's on Sunday (1 p.m. start time).
The Rambelles are 33-8 on the season and 17-7 in conference play; they currently sit in a fifth-place tie in the league standings with Texas A&M-Kingsville and are three games back of the first-place tie between UT Tyler and Oklahoma Christian.
Despite taking this past weekend off for the Easter holiday, the Rambelles still rank in the top five nationally in home runs (fifth – 62) and walks (third – 175), with both marks leading the LSC. The Rambelles also have a .430 on-base percentage, second in the conference, and have turned 15 double plays this season, second-most in the LSC.
Paxton Scheurer is in a tie for first in the country with 22 home runs this season and leads all of Division II with 70 runs batted in this season; additionally, she is slugging .977 this season, fourth in the nation.
Scheurer's 22 home runs are second-most in a single season in program history, only behind Sandy James' 25 home runs in 2009; her 70 RBIs are the third-highest in a single season, only six behind DeeshanaLynn Tafiti's 76 RBIs in 2012.
Her .977 slugging percentage would represent a new school record, surpassing James' .937 mark back in 2009.
Ashlyn Lerma ranks sixth nationally with 38 stolen bases this season.
This season's final games at Mayer Field will also see the Rambelle softball program honor their only senior on the roster, infielder
Mykayla Stroud, before the St. Mary's doubleheader on Sunday.
In her five seasons in San Angelo, Stroud has played in 203 career games, making 170 starts. She is a .274 hitter with 17 home runs and 85 RBIs. The Aledo native has scored 94 runs and is 41-47 in stolen base attempts.
Defensively, she has a .930 career fielding percentage.
This season, she is batting .325 with three home runs, 14 RBIs, and 20 runs scored. She has drawn eight walks and been hit by a pitch seven times, most on the team. She is perfect in eight stolen base attempts and has a .908 fielding percentage this season.
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's is 18-20 on the season and 9-15 in conference play; they are currently tenth in the LSC standings, the last spot to qualify for the LSC Tournament. This season, they have claimed a pair of ranked wins over Texas A&M-Commerce and West Texas A&M.
The Hilltopper offense is hitting .294 this season and averages 4.6 runs per contest. Genisa Marrero-Carter, the only player to record a hit in their last game against the Rambelles back on February 13
th, is hitting .389 on the season.
In their previous matchup on February 13
th, the Rambelles won 8-0 in six innings, recording eight hits and eight walks, while
Torrey Hogan only allowed two hits and struck out six batters.
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
St. Mary's is 32-13 overall on the season and 16-8 in conference play, only one game back of the Rambelles; they have five wins over ranked opponents this season.
The Rattlers are batting .298 as a team, led by Jayme James' .431 average. In the circle, Catalina Cavazos is 17-2 this season with a 2.35 ERA, striking out 100 batters in 126.1 innings of work.
This matchup will also see the two winningest coaches in the LSC face each other, with the Rattlers' Donna Fields having won 1,001 games in 25 seasons, while the Rambelles'
Travis Scott has won 900 games in 22 seasons as a head coach.
The Rambelles have won their past nine meetings against the Rattlers.
Following this weekend, the Rambelles close out the regular season on the road next weekend against Lubbock Christian.
