The second day of the 2009 Lone Star Conference Softball
Championship is complete. Angelo State and Southeastern
Oklahoma will meet in the finals of the Durant tournament at 1 p.m.
on Sunday, while Abilene Christian plays Central Oklahoma in the
title game of the Abilene tournament at 11 a.m. Sunday.
ASU 4, TAMUK 3
The Rambelles edged Texas A&M-Kingsville, 4-3, in the
semifinals. ASU's Laura Lopez plated all four runs with a
3-for-3 performance. She hit two home runs (16, 17) with a
solo shot in the first inning and a three-run round tripper in the
third.
Chelsea Nelson (24-4) earned the complete game victory for ASU
allowing nine hits and three runs (two earned) with four
strikeouts. The Rambelles earned a spot in the championship
game Sunday at 1 p.m.
ACU 10, WTAMU 2 (5 innings)
Abilene Christian run-ruled West Texas A&M, 10-2 in five
innings, in the semifinals. The Wildcats trailed 2-1 in the
bottom of the third inning before Nancy Sawyers delivered with her
second grand slam of the season. Her towering shot down the
left field line with one out and the bases loaded propelled ACU
into the championship game on Sunday at 2 p.m.
ACU's Jacque Gregoire picked up win No. 21 on the season to move
to 21-4 throwing four innings and allowing two runs. Kim Partin
pitched one perfect inning in relief striking out two.
SE 6, CU 3 (9 innings)
The Storm needed nine innings to advance in the Saturday opener,
using homers to tie and then win the game.
Marjorie Johnson went the distance to pick up her 23rd win,
tossing 9.0 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on five
hits while striking out 13.
Benita Sanchez, Erika Bernal and Jami McAdoo each tallied
two-hit outings, while Sanchez and Marjorie Johnson supplied the
home runs that got the Storm past the Aggies.
CU answered with a pair of runs on the bottom of the first to
take a 2-1 lead and made it 3-1 with a run in the bottom of the
fifth inning.
SE answered, however, with a two-run bomb from Johnson to help
her own cause and tie the game at 3-3.
CU nearly finished the game in regulation after Jenna Boren
attempted to score from first on a ball that got past Mathes, but
Laney Anderson was charging in from centerfield, scooped up the
ball and gunned Boren with a laser beam throw to end the inning and
the threat.
It remained tied until the Storm put two runners on with one out
in the top of the ninth, setting the stage for Sanchez's three-run
blast that fashioned the 6-3 win.
UCO 1, MSU 0
Central Oklahoma eliminated Midwestern State with a 1-0 victory
in a pitcher's duel at the four-team Lone Star Conference Softball
Championship at ACU's Wells Field.
The Bronchos Ashley Geter scored the only and eventual
game-winning run in the first inning. Geter singled, stole
second and scored on Kelsey Tiger's single.
That was enough for UCO starter Molly Shivers (16-6), who didn't
allow a Mustang past second base in her complete game three-hit
effort.
MSU managed a hit in the third, sixth and seventh frames.
Jessica Rodriguez hit a lead-off double in the seventh but pinch
runner Miranda Jarrell was stranded after a ground out, fly out and
strike out.
The Bronchos stayed alive in the tournament to face West Texas
A&M with the winner advancing to the championship game on
Sunday.
SE 5, TAMUK 1
Southeastern (50-10) picked up its second straight 50-win season
and earned a trip back to the Lone Star Conference Tournament
semifinals on Sunday a 5-1 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The Storm got another complete game in the circle, this one from
McAdoo who threw 7.0 innings and allowed a run on eight hits with
five K's to move to 18-3 on the year.
Mathes came alive at the plate in game two, going 3-for-4 with a
pair of home runs and four RBI.
Anderson added a two hit outing, with Kristi Goins and Mathes
scoring a pair of runs each and Bernal accounting for the other.
SE again took a first inning lead, 1-0, after back-to-back
singles with one out from Goins and Mathes.
Mathes' first homer, a two-run shot, gave the Storm a 3-0
advantage in the third inning, which would expand to 4-0 when
Bernal scored on a double steal where Jennifer Morales was caught
in a rundown between first and second.
The Javelinas got a run back in the bottom of the sixth inning,
but Mathes' second homer, a solo shot in the seventh inning,
fashioned the final of 5-1.
The Savage Storm will now face Angelo State in a 1 p.m. contest,
with SE having to win twice to clinch a berth in the LSC Tournament
finals next weekend. Sunday's contests will be available on
KSEO AM 750 as well as via the web at GoSoutheastern.com.
UCO 3, WTAMU 1
Molly Shivers threw her second complete-game of the day Saturday
afternoon as Central Oklahoma fought off two elimination games, the
final a 3-1 win over West Texas A&M that sent the Bronchos into
the championship round of the first round of the Lone Star
Conference Softball Championship at ACU's Wells Field.
UCO will take on ACU in the first championship game at 11 a.m. The
Wildcats need just one win to win this four-team tournament and
host next weekend's best-of-three series against either Angelo
State or Southeastern Oklahoma State. If UCO wins the first game,
the second game will be played immediately following the first
game.
The Bronchos -- who stayed alive in the tournament earlier
Saturday with a 1-0 win over Midwestern State -- trailed throughout
much of Saturday night's game against the Lady Buffs. West Texas
A&M took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and that
held up behind the solid pitching of Shelbey Cockrell.
Cockrell held the Bronchos hitless until Brittany Weaver's two-out
single in the fifth. The Bronchos finally broke through against
Cockrell in the sixth, putting up two runs to take the lead. Niki
Hunt and Lindsey McLaughlin had back-to-back two-out RBI doubles to
give UCO a 2-1 lead.
UCO tacked on another run in the seventh, again with two outs, as
Ashley Geter doubled to right-centerfield to drive in Shivers to
make it 3-1. Shivers worked around a leadoff single in the bottom
of the seventh, striking out Audrey Wallace to end the game.