Tyler, Texas – With the postseason just around the corner, the Lone Star Conference announced their all-conference awards this evening at the conference banquet at UT Tyler. The Angelo State softball team walked away with 11 awards, headlined by Paxton Scheurer being named the conference's player of the year and being named the LSC Academic Player of the Year.
Scheurer becomes just the third player in conference history to win both awards in the same season, joining Midwestern State's Lauren Craig in 2010 and Cameron's Jenna Boren in 2009, and is the first player to do so since the LSC moved to a one-division format in 2012.
2022 has been a breakout season for the Rambelles' third baseman. One of three players to play in and start every game for head coach Travis Scott this season, Scheurer has a .379 batting average and has hit 22 home runs while driving in 70 runs. Her home run and RBI season totals are second and third-best in the program's history.
She is third in the nation in home runs and RBIs and is tenth in slugging percentage with a .869 mark.
In her previous two seasons in San Angelo, Schuerer only hit five home runs and drove in 27 runs while moving in and out of the lineup.
Additionally, the Mansfield native owns a 4.00 GPA in graduate school, working on her master's degree in Industrial Organization Psychology.
She is the fifth Rambelle to be named conference player of the year and the first to do so since Morgan Spearman in 2014; she is also the fourth Rambelle to earn academic player of the year and the first to do so since Alix Dean in 2011.
Joining Scheurer on the All-LSC First Team are teammates Ashlyn Lerma and Genesis Armendariz.
Lerma makes it onto the first team for the second consecutive season. The Rambelles' second baseman hit .358 and has scored 51 times this season. She has drawn a team-high 35 walks and is 45-for-46 on stolen base attempts.
For the second year in a row, the Highland Village native was also named to the all-academic team, where she owns a 3.94 GPA while studying Finance; she was also named to the Gold Glove team at second base with a .982 fielding percentage this season.
Armendariz, who was named to the all-freshman team last season, finds herself on the first team for her performances this season. This season, the sophomore pitcher has 19 wins, tied for most in the conference, and has struck out 117 batters in 129 innings. She owns a 2.33 ERA, and opponents are hitting .230 against the Hobbs, New Mexico native.
The Rambelles had two players selected to the all-conference second team in Lindsey Evans and Ashlynn Box.
In her first season at Angelo State, Evans has started every game in center field this season, hitting .369 with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. She has a .470 on-base percentage and a .674 slugging percentage.
Box, who was a first-team all-conference selection last season, is on the second team this season with a .358 batting average. The Christoval native has nine home runs and 44 RBIs and has drawn 25 walks while striking out only 17 times. Her .473 on-base percentage is second on the team.
Keilei Garcia, with Lerma, was named to the Gold Glove team. Behind the plate for the Rambelles this season, Garcia has a .971 fielding percentage. The Californian's presence behind the plate has meant that the Rambelles have allowed only 21 stolen bases this season, the lowest in the conference.
Additionally, Garcia has thrown out 15 runners this season, more than every team in the conference bar St. Mary's (17), and opponents' stolen base percentage against Garcia is only .571, with the next-lowest mark in the conference being St. Mary's .667.
The Rambelles open their postseason schedule on Friday against four-seed Texas A&M-Commerce in the quarterfinals of the LSC Tournament.
