ABILENE - The Abilene Christian softball team will conclude its 2012 regular season this week with four Lone Star Conference games split between Angelo State and Midwestern State.
The Wildcats first will play the rubber match of their series vs. the Rambelles Tuesday night at 7 p.m., and then hit the road for a three-game weekend series vs. the Mustangs.
ACU begins the week at 28-12 overall and 14-8 vs. the conference, 1.0 game behind second-place Texas Woman's and a half game ahead of both West Texas and Tarleton State. Angelo State has a comfortable lead at 19-4, while the Mustangs stand in sixth place at 13-10.
ACU and ASU started its series last Tuesday with each team coming away with a single victory at Poly Wells Field. The Wildcats doubled up the 12th-ranked Rambelles in game one, 8-4, but then lost, 7-2, in the nightcap.
The Wildcats scored all eight of their runs by the fourth inning, and were a strike away from a run-rule victory when DeeshanaLynn Tafiti tatooed a three-run blast off the scoreboard in left field. ASU plated an unearned run the following inning on Kacie Easley's RBI single, which made it an 8-4 game.
The Rambelles jumped to a 3-0 lead to start game two, but the Wildcats got a run back in the third on
Courtney Flanary's RBI single, and then made it a one-run game in the fifth following
Lyndi Smith's sixth home run of the year.
ACU appeared destined to tie the game in the sixth after Kimberly Briggs drilled a shot to straight away center field, but outfielder Lauren Smith put her glove up at the last possible moment and caught the ball a foot in front of the fence.
The score remained in ASU's favor heading into the seventh, where
Caitlyn Crain was quickly able to get the first two outs, but then an error led to a walk, which immediately preceded a three-run blast by Smith - her second of the game and ninth of the year. Smith's round-tripper made it a 6-2 game, and two batters later Elsamartina Apo added a RBI single.
Later in the week ACU won its series against Eastern New Mexico, two games to one, in closing out the home portion of their regular season schedule.
ACU won game one, 4-1, behind a complete-game, seven strikeout effort by Crain, and captured game two, 6-2, thanks to 6.0 shutout innings from
Peyton Mosley and a three-run RBI double by
Erin Gilliland.
The Wildcats also built an early lead in game three, only to see it slip away in the later innings as the Zias rallied to win, 4-2.
The offense batted .280 vs. Eastern New Mexico led by
Keanna Winkfield (.500, 3 runs),
Madison Buckley (.455, RBI), and
Brianna Fowlkes (.333, double, run).
Megan Brigance and Gilliland also went deep during the series, and Gilliland had the most RBI of any Wildcat with five.
Three ACU pitchers combined to post a 2.33 ERA and .224 opponents batting average. Mosley won her lone start, while Crain settled for a 1-1 record with 11 Ks.
Shelby Hall pitched the final inning of game two during which she surrendered a two-run home run.
