Canyon, Texas – The Angelo State softball team took home 11 awards this evening at the Lone Star Conference championship banquet held on the campus of West Texas A&M, with the awards being highlighted by Zoey Sifuentes being named the conference's freshman of the year. Kylie Forney joined her teammate by earning a superlative award, being named the Newcomer of the Year.

Sifuentes, the Rambelles' third baseman, has continued ASU's rich lineage of standout performers at the hot corner as she becomes the eighth Rambelle to be named the LSC Freshman of the Year.

The Lamesa product is the first Rambelle to earn this award since Courtney Barnhill did so in 2017.

Sifuentes has taken to college softball like a fish to water, leading the Rambelles with a .412 batting average, 21 doubles, 71 RBI, and an .812 slugging percentage. She has hit 13 home runs in her rookie season and drawn 25 walks. The Exercise Science student has carried two separate hit streaks of 12 and 11 games, respectively, during the season.

Sifuentes was also named an All-LSC First Team selection and is featured on the all-freshman team.

Forney, Sifuentes' partner on the left side of the infield, is the sixth-ever Rambelle to earn Newcomer of the Year plaudits and the first one since Hatty Shope won the award in 2019.

The Health Science Professions student leads the LSC with 47 walks and 33 stolen bases. The Rambelles' shortstop is hitting .358 and enters the postseason having reached base in each of the last 11 games. She had a season-high of 25 straight games in which she reached base earlier this season.

Forney, like Sifuentes, was also named to the All-LSC First Team. Addy Ewing and Tatiana Trotter join their teammates on the all-conference first team.

Ewing, Forney's teammate at Butler CC last season, has emerged as one of the most formidable pitchers in the LSC as she carries a 2.24 ERA and a 15-0 overall record. Having thrown an even 100 innings this season, the Exercise Science student holds opponents to a .244 batting average.

Trotter, the lone four-year letterwinner on this year's team, is hitting .363 with 14 home runs and driving in 54 runs. The reigning NFCA Division II Player of the Week has recorded 18 career triples, the most in program history, and hit her 40^th home run this past weekend, ranking her fifth in ASU history. She is slugging a team-best .834 and held a 29-game streak where she reached base.

The Intelligence and Analysis student was also named to the All-Academic Team, and she repeated as an LSC Golden Glove winner in centerfield.

The duo of Ashleigh Dendas and Maddison Ruiz was named to the All-LSC Second Team.

Dendas, the junior from Sacramento, California, has been a two-way threat for the Rambelles in the circle and the heart of the ASU lineup.

She is hitting .351 with 41 runs driven in and leads the Rambelles by being hit by 20 pitches. In the circle, she is 10-6 with a 3.55 ERA. She has struck out 63 batters in 100.2 innings of work, holding opponents to a .258 batting average.

Ruiz, who was also named to the all-freshman team, has made an immediate impact in her rookie season in San Angelo, leading ASU with 108 strikeouts in 110.1 innings of work. Owning a 14-6 record with a 2.41 ERA, she has thrown two complete-game shutouts this season, and the Nursing student has held opponents to a team-best .213 opponent batting average.

The Rambelles open their time at the LSC Tournament tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. when they take on sixth-seeded Lubbock Christian.