Box Score - vs. Huston-Tillotson
Box Score - vs. Our Lady of the Lake
Box Score - vs. Northwood

FARMERS BRANCH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University softball team (25-29) took a pair of wins Saturday morning to advance to Saturday afternoon’s Red River Athletic Conference finals. The Rams topped Huston-Tillotson Univeristy (15-26) 2-0. Ashleigh Jiminez then knocked in six runs to propel the Rams past Our Lady of the Lake University (26-20) 11-8. That brought TWU to its sixth game in two days needing to beat top seeded Northwood University (37-13), playing their third game, twice. Unfortunately TWU’s run fell short and Northwood took the title with a 9-0 win.

 

Against Huston-Tillotson, Texas Wesleyan loaded the bases in the third inning with an error, a bunt single, and a hit batter. Haley Butler drew a walk to push one run across, but HTU caught a runner too far off of third base for out number two and got a strikeout to end the rally.

 

In the fifth, Jiminez led off with a double off the top of the wall in left field. She advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a suicide squeeze bunt from Christina Kelley.

 

After two quick outs in the sixth, HTU loaded the bases with three straight singles, but Kelley snared a liner at first base to end the threat.

 

Ashley Hudson (5-6) kept HTU off the scoreboard for seven innings. She scattered six hits and three walks while striking out two.

 

Marissa Rangel collected two of Texas Wesleyan’s four hits, going 2-for-3 with a walk at the plate.

 

Against OLLU, the Saints jumped ahead 6-0, only to see the Lady Rams rip off ten unanswered runs.

 

OLLU took advantage of a TWU error in the first inning to plate an unearned run, and Brooke Hernandez led off the second with a home run, just inside the left field foul pole to make it 2-0.

 

The Saints broke out for four runs on five hits including an RBI triple from Kimberlee Briseno in the third. Texas Wesleyan came right back with three in the bottom of the third, getting RBI from Jiminez, Butler, and Kelley.

 

The Rams loaded the bases in the fourth with singles from Tara Martinez and Rangel and a walk to Makelle Akin. With two outs, Jiminez blasted a grand slam home run, putting the Rams on top 7-6.

 

Texas Wesleyan loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth. Raven Moreno drew an RBI walk to bring Jiminez back to plate. The junior from Burleson, TX, delivered a two-run single that gave the Rams a 10-6 cushion.

 

The Saints were not done though. Tiffany Stritz led off the sixth with a base hit and Meagan Potts followed with a two-run bomb. The Lady Rams got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame, when Kelley ripped a leadoff double and Martinez added an RBI bunt hit.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, it appeared that Hernandez had touched off her second homer of the day, but Rangel reached over the left field wall and brought it back. Ashley Elizalde followed with a triple, but Ashley Tarrant ended the inning with a popup and a shallow fly ball.

 

Tarrant (12-12) picked up the win after allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings of relief work. Jiminez was 3-for-4 at the plate with six RBI. Butler added three hits, while Maritnez and Hopie Perez each had a pair.

 

In the championship game, Northwood started out with consecutive singles and put runners at second and third with no outs. Tarrant came back with a pair of strikeouts and a fly ball to keep the Knights off the scoreboard.

 

Tarrant started the second inning with back-to-back strikeouts and had Isela Soto down 1-2 before hitting the NU leftfielder. That brought Elba Lebron to the plate and Lebron put the Knights ahead with a home run down the leftfield line.

 

Northwood added a run on an RBI double from Samantha Hernandez in the third. In the fourth, a three-run homer from Hernandez highlighted a six-run two-out rally that pushed the score to 9-0.

 

Tarrant (12-13) suffered the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits, while striking out six in 3.2 innings of work. Larissa Garcia (19-5) tossed a one-hit shutout in the victory.

 

The Rams end the season at 25-29 overall, having made their fifth consecutive RRAC semifinal appearance. They finished third in the RRAC in the regular season at 13-8 in league play, making them 35-12 in RRAC competition in the last two years.