March 15, 2008

Box Score

SAN ANGLEO, Texas - The Lady Buff softball team ended its six-game losing slide on Saturday in a big way by downing No. 4 Angelo State by a score of 11-3 in the second game of a doubleheader at ASU Softball Complex. WT, which improved to 13-16 overall and 4-4 in Lone Star Conference South Division play, was not so fortunate in the opening contest of the twin bill, falling 8-0 in five innings.

The victory was the first ever for the Lady Buffs over their division foe from San Angelo and tomorrow WT will go for its first ever series win over the Rambelles (24-5; 6-2 LSC-South) when the two teams square off at 1 p.m.

Game #1 Recap - (No. 4 Angelo State 8, West Texas A&M 0 - Five innings)
The Lady Buff bats were cold in the first game of the day as they were only able to manage a pair of hits off of Rambelle starter Kari Glam (14-1), who struck out five in the complete game win.

Sophomores Amber Farr and Dani Couger were the only Lady Buffs to reach base via a hit, while shortstop Christie Russell drew a walk for the only other base runner allowed by Glam.

For Angelo State, junior catcher Laura Lopez collected five RBI, four of which came on a grand slam off of WT's Shannon O'Dea in the bottom of the second inning.

Game #2 Recap - (West Texas A&M 11, No. 4 Angelo State 3)
Leading 4-2, the Lady Buffs broke the game wide open with a six-run fourth inning in which the Lady Buffs batted around and got a three-run home run by junior Caitlin Schmidt to cruise to an 11-3 win over fourth-ranked Angelo State.

WT plated a run in the top of the first as Amarillo native Audrey Wallace singled through the left side to bring in Farr. Wallace was not done on the afternoon as she also added a RBI single in the seventh to bring in the Lady Buffs' final run of the day.

After the Rambelles tied the game at 1-1 in the home half of the first, WT left fielder Jessica Ruzicki went deep with a runner on off ASU pitcher Rachel Walck for her second home run of the season. Kaitlyn Witte added a run-scoring single to give the Lady Buffs a 4-1 advantage.

Angelo State added a run in the bottom of the second and after a scoreless third, the Lady Buffs came to bat in the dramatic top of the fourth. Couger got the scoring started with a RBI single and in the next at bat Russell kept the momentum going with a two-run single through the left side. With both Couger and Brytany Lemon, who reached on a fielder's choice, on base, Schmidt stepped into the batter's box against ASU hurler Jamie Thompson. The Silvethonre, Colo., native was able to take a 2-1offering from Thompson and drive it over the wall in right for an opposite field home run.

Senior Andrea Renteria (4-6) picked up the win in the circle for the Lady Buffs as she scattered nine hits and gave up just one earned run in the complete game effort.