Texas A&M-Commerce and UT Tyler remain unbeaten at 12-0 in Lone Star Conference contests after three weeks of league play.
LSC teams are playing a single round-robin schedule with a doubleheader (two games) against each league opponent starting on March 5. The LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games.
LSC schedule and results available here:
http://www.lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=softball&&
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Haley Castle, Cameron, JR, Sports and Exercise Science, Infield/Outfield, Leedey, Okla., Leedey HS
Castle broke out for the Aggie softball team this week as they collected five wins over a six-game span. The junior from Leedey, Okla. opened the week up with a bang, collecting three hits, three runs, and six RBI against Fort Hays State and then two hits, two runs, and five RBI against Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday. Castle finished the non-conference two-step with four home runs (one of each variety), and 11 RBI. The sports and exercise science major added four hits and two more RBI in a doubleheader against St. Mary’s and then another hit and three walks against St. Edward’s two days later. Castle finished the week with a .625 average, a 1.500 slugging percentage, and a .696 on-base percentage to go along with her 24 total bases.
PITCHER
Erika Cortez, Texas A&M International, SO, Criminal Justice, Pitcher, Rio Hondo, Texas, UTSA
Cortez continued her stellar season for the Dustdevils with a 2-0 record over the weekend. In her first start, Cortez threw a complete game, allowing just one run, three hits, a walk and five strikeouts against #18 West Texas A&M, leading TAMIU to the 4-1 victory. In her second start, Cortez made history, becoming the first Dustdevil in program history to throw a perfect game. In the 11-0, five inning victory over Eastern New Mexico, Cortez struck out nine of the 15 batters she faced. Offensively, she went 2-for-3 against the Greyhounds with a home run to add to an already perfect game. For the season, she is tied for the conference lead in strikeouts (96) and second in complete games (10).
WEEKLY AWARDS
Hitter
F-9 Brooke Makemson, Lubbock Christian
F-23 Shanna McBroom, West Texas A&M
M-2 Ruby Salzman, West Texas A&M
M-9 Uxua Modrego, Texas A&M-Commerce
M-16 Madison Fernandez, Angelo State
M-23 Haley Castle, Cameron
Pitcher
F-9 Alyssa LeBlanc, Texas A&M-Commerce
F-23 Taylor Franco, Lubbock Christian
M-2 Erika Cortez, Texas A&M International
M-9 Alyssa LeBlanc, Texas A&M-Commerce (2)
M-16 Kali Crandall, Oklahoma Christian
M-23 Erika Cortez, Texas A&M International (2)
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Keilei Garcia , Angelo State, had a fantastic weekend for the Rambelles as they swept the UT Permian Basin Falcons and WNMU Mustangs, averaging a .750 batting average for to finish the weekend. Garcia had 12 at-bats, smashing nine hits, including two back-to-back home runs against the Mustangs. Garcia scored five runs for the Rambelles, and drove in 14 RBI over the weekend, finishing with one double, a 1.333 slugging percentage, and a .769 on-base percentage.
Briana Arredondo, Texas A&M International, continued her hot streak at the plate with a fantastic weekend. She helped lead the Dustdevils to a 4-1 weekend with four games being played out of the five. In the series against #18 West Texas A&M, Arredondo went 2-for-6 with a three run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to push TAMIU ahead 4-1 and take home the victory. In the two games played out of the three games against Eastern New Mexico, Arredondo went 5-for-6 with three home runs, a double and nine RBI. In game one she was 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBI and game two she was 3-for-3 with two home runs, the double and five RBI. The 12 RBI weekend now has her tied for fifth in the LSC.
Bayli Simon, UT Tyler, hit .571 for the week and led #6 UT Tyler with five RBI across the four wins against Texas Woman's and Midwestern State this weekend to move to a perfect 4-0 on the year. She went 4-for-7 from the plate for the weekend with a pair of doubles and a triple. The Frierson, La. native scored twice over the weekend and was responsible for four of the Patriot's RBI in Sunday's doubleheader sweep of Midwestern State.
Avery Boley, Texas A&M-Commerce, was the top hitter for the No. 2 Lions in a weekend sweep of Midwestern State and Texas Woman's. She reached base at least once in every game, with multiple hits in two games. In the opener against TWU, she hit a 3-run homerun. She also was perfect in the field at both catcher and first base with 28 putouts.
Genisa Marrero-Carter, St. Edward's, was a constant at the plate for SEU this weekend, going 7-13 overall including a perfect 4-4 outing. She was never struck out or thrown out on the basepath, going 4-4 on stolen bases.
Tyla Lee, Lubbock Christian, helped LCU to a 4-0 weekend in which they completed four shutout victories and all were via the run rule. Lee had a pair of multi-hit games, as she went 3-for-4 in the doubleheader over Western New Mexico and 2-for-7 in the doubleheader against UT Permian Basin. Lee was 2-for-2 in at-bats with no runners aboard and 3-for-6 in two-out at-bats leading to four two-out RBI.
Hailey Neira, West Texas A&M, led the #18 Lady Buffs in week six as the freshman hit .455 (5-for-11). The freshman produced timely hits in WT's doubleheader sweep over #15 Texas A&M-Kingsville as she hit an RBI single to tie game one before recording hitting another RBI single to put the Lady Buffs ahead 4-3 that ultimately led to their 5-3 victory. She added another RBI in game two as she singled down the line to put WT ahead 2-0 leading to their 4-3 win.
Kylie Janzen, Oklahoma Christian, hit .444 with a 1.111 slugging percentage on the week in road doubleheaders at St. Edward’s and St. Mary’s. She had a day to remember on Sunday as Oklahoma Christian split at St. Mary’s. She hit a solo home run and a three-run homer as OC won the first game 6-0 and drove in another run with a third-inning single that briefly gave the Eagles a three-run lead in the second game, which St. Mary’s eventually won 9-6.
Maxine Valdez, Lubbock Christian, capped teams first streak of four consecutive shutout wins for the first time since 2013 after shutting out Western New Mexico and UT Permian Basin each twice, with a five-inning complete game no-hit performance (Saturday in game-two verses UTPB) for her first career no-hitter and the 18th in program history. She had seven strikeouts in each start and combined to allow one hit in a combined 9.0 innings. Valdez combined to face 21 consecutive batters without allowing a hit in the two games.
Payton Foster, UT Tyler, didn't allow a single earned run in 14.0 innings of work this weekend, tossing complete game shutouts against Texas Woman's on Friday and Midwestern State on Sunday. She conceded just six hits between the two starts and struck out 20 batters for the weekend. Foster recorded the second-highest individual strike out total in a single game in UT Tyler softball history in Sunday's win against Midwestern State, striking out 11 of the batters she faced. Those 11 strike outs are the most any pitcher has recorded in a single game in the first two seasons of the Division II era for UT Tyler. Foster started her weekend by striking out nine batters for Texas Woman's, allowing just five base runners to reach in her 7.0 inning complete game shutout on Friday afternoon. Foster, alongside fellow starter Erin Hill, tossed 26.0 innings of scoreless softball in the four wins for UT Tyler against Texas Woman's and Midwestern State. Neither pitcher allowed a single earned run throughout any of those four games and struck out a total of 34 batters in 26.0 innings of work. Foster ranks second in the Lone Star Conference with a 0.71 ERA on the year and has allowed just two earned runs in her last 38.1 innings in the circle.
Cadie Belle Currie, St. Edward's, was outstanding at home this weekend, posting two wins including one over #8 Oklahoma Christian. She recorded one shutout, allowed zero runs in 12.1 innings of work with just four hits and two walks.
Alyssa LeBlanc, Texas A&M-Commerce, pitched two complete game shutouts last week, as the No. 2 Lions swept both Midwestern State and Texas Woman's. In the MSU game, she struck out six, walked one, and allowed three hits in 5.0 innings. In the TWU game, she struck out 11 with no walks and four hits in a 7-inning shutout. She also hit .273 with a solo homer this week. For the season, she leads the nation in wins with 12 and is tied for the LSC lead in strikeouts with 96. Her 1.18 season ERA ranks fourth in the LSC, and opponent batting average of .157 ranks third.
Breley Webb, Cameron, was masterful in the circle this week, leading the Aggies to three of their five wins with a trio of pitching gems. The sophomore opened the week by becoming the seventh player in program history to throw a no-hitter on Tuesday against Oklahoma Baptist. She struck out six Bison and allowed just one base runner via a walk. Webb followed that up with a solid 5.2 inning outing against St. Mary’s, striking out nine hitters and giving up just one run on four hits in her second win of the week. Just two days later, the psychology major struck out a career-best 10 batters in a three-hit shutout of St. Edward’s when she faced just three over the minimum. Webb also hit .409 at the plate with five doubles and three RBI over the six-game span.
Emilee Wilson, West Texas A&M, earned two victories on the mound with a 7-0 win over Texas A&M International before defeating #15 Texas A&M-Kingsville 5-3 as she helped the #18 Lady Buffs go 3-1 in week six. She held a 1.50 ERA as TAMIU recorded just three hits against the Minnesota native while the #15 Javelinas registered three runs on 10 hits.