SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State softball team trailed early in both games at day two of the George and Ola McCorkle Challenge presented by Balhman Cleaner, but timely hitting in the late stages of both contests, and a pair of walk-off home runs, propelled the Rambelles to a pair of victories as they downed East Central 6-4 before beating Texas A&M International 4-3.
The Rambelles fell behind the eight ball early against the Tigers, with the visitors pushing across four runs on four hits as Rambelles starting pitcher
Torrey Hogan failed to get out of the first inning.
Ashlyn Lerma would reach on an error to lead off the bottom of the inning, eventually scoring on a
Madison Fernandez double.
The day also featured three stolen bases from Lerma, who became only the third player in program history to reach 100 career stolen bases; her 101 total swipes are now second all-time in the program's history.
Angelo State would conjure up a two-out rally in the second inning, with
Maleya Burns singling before
Ashton Dirner left the yard with her first home run in nearly two seasons.
The score remained 4-3 until the fifth inning when
Lindsey Evans' hit went over the ECU right fielder's head and took a big bounce, allowing the Rambelles' center fielder to round the bases and even the score on the team's second inside-the-park home run of the season.
Fernandez led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a four-pitch walk before Evans walked off the Tigers with a two-run blast over the right-centerfield fence. The home run was the third of the weekend for the junior from Corpus Christi.
Fellow McLennan transfer
Cheyenne Floyd turned in her best performance in an ASU uniform so far, pitching 6.1 innings in relief of Hogan while striking out six and only allowing two hits. The win is the first in an Angelo State uniform for Floyd.
The Dustdevils struck for a pair of runs in the first inning and scored on a wild pitch in the third to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Burns would lead off the fifth inning with a double to the left-center gap on the first pitch to set up
Keilei Garcia's homer over the left-field fence to make the score 3-2.
A Dustdevil error to lead off the sixth inning set the table for Fernandez, who doubled home the tying run.
The next inning saw Garcia, the leadoff batter, hit an absolute moonshot down the left field line for her second home run of the game and the Rambelles' second walk-off home run of the day.
Genesis Armendariz struck out 12 Dustdevils, as she threw 135 pitches and picked up the win to improve to 4-0 on the season.
The Rambelles are 7-3 on the season and close their weekend out tomorrow against the Dustdevils, with the first pitch scheduled for noon.
