Canyon, Texas – The Angelo State softball team led wire-to-wire as they defeated Texas A&M-Kingsville 5-3 in the LSC Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon to claim the program's eighth tournament title all-time and the Rambelles' first since 2018.
The first important action of the game came in the top of the first, when the Javelinas hit a two-out double with a runner on second base, but Rambelles center fielder
Tatiana Trotter cut the runner down at the plate to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
Karli Manney led the bottom of the frame off with a single before
Kylie Forney drew a full-count walk. A pitch hit Trotter to load the bases, and with two outs,
Abby Brand singled to center field to score a pair of runs.
The game remained 2-0 until the fifth inning, when
Ashleigh Dendas would double before her pinch runner,
Sara Paniagua, would score on Brand's double to left center.
Brand moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Loeffler to grow the lead to 4-0.
Singles by
Taylor Haywood and Manney loaded the bases, and Forney drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-0. Manney was a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate, responsible for four of the Rambelles' nine hits.
Kingsville would score once in the sixth and twice in the seventh, but
Addy Ewing would close the door on the Hogs in poetic fashion, doing so by forcing a groundout to JUCO teammate and now-Rambelles shortstop Forney.
Ewing improves to 16-0 on the season, allowing seven hits and three runs while recording a season-high six strikeouts. For her performances this week, Ewing was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Joining Ewing on the all-tournament team from the Rambelles include Trotter, Brand,
Zoey Sifuentes, and
Maddison Ruiz.
The Rambelles are 46-12 on the season and clinch the LSC's automatic qualifier berth for next week's NCAA Tournament. The selection show for the full tournament field will be announced on Monday, May 11
th, at 9 a.m. Central time.
