SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - #1 UT Tyler responded after an extra-innings 3-2 loss in game one with three homers and a strong start from junior Payton Foster in game two to pick up a 7-2 win and a doubleheader split against #13 Angelo State.
 
The Patriots forced the extra innings after going down to their final out in game one before an RBI single from pinch hitter Avery Farr tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the seventh. Angelo State went on to plate the walk-off run in the bottom of the eighth to win 3-2, and then jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game two before UT Tyler capped off the top-15 national match-up with seven runs in three innings to secure a 7-2 victory in the finale.
 
Foster picked up the win in that game two outing, tossing 6.2 innings while allowing just a pair of hits and two earned runs to move her record to 12-1 on the year. Sophomore Tatum Goff was equally impressive in the game one start, throwing the full 7.1 innings of work while conceding just five hits and a pair of earned runs.
 
Goff struckout nine in that effort, but was outdueled by Rambelle starter Genesis Armendariz despite the Patriot comeback in the top of the seventh. Angelo State jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the third, but Goff earned the run back in favor for UT Tyler with an RBI single up the middle that scored Grace Davis in the top of the fourth to knot the game back up at 1-1.
 
A Rambelle homer in the bottom of the sixth made it 2-1, and two quick outs in the ensuing Patriot at bats forced a two-out rally by UT Tyler to take the game into extra innings. Sophomore Courtney Plocheck and senior Mak Dominguez got that rally started with back-to-back singles, setting the stage for Farr to deliver the game-tying single in her at-bat to score Plocheck and even the score up at 2-2.
 
Angelo State plated the winning run in the bottom half of the eighth to notch the 3-2 win. UT Tyler out-hit the Rambelles with six hits, all six of which came from a different Patriot bat.
 
Goff struckout nine throughout her appearance, but suffered the first loss of her campaign to move her record to 3-1 on the year.
 
Goff started the Patriot response in game two with a solo homer in the top of the fourth that answered a solo home run of their own by Angelo State in the second. That homer for Angelo State was the lone hit allowed by Foster until the bottom of the seventh in which the Patriots had already padded a 7-1 lead entering the frame.
 
Senior Ashley Perez scored classmate Bayli Simon on a sac bunt in the fifth to give UT Tyler their first lead of the day, an advantage that was quickly extended to 5-1 thanks to a three-run homer from Plocheck in the same frame.
 
Dominguez launched the third homerun of the game for the Patriots in the top of the sixth to make it 6-1, and then Simon followed suit with an RBI single that scored freshman Cassidi Mullen to make it 7-1.
 
Foster allowed a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh, and then gave way to freshman Kaylee Davis for the final out of the day and the 7-2 Patriot victory.
 
Foster and Davis combined to allow just three hits in that win, while UT Tyler plated their seven runs on eight hits. Simon, Plocheck and Dominguez each totaled two hits in the winning effort, while Plocheck finished game two 2-for-3 from the plate with three RBI and a run scored.
 
Plocheck and Dominguez both went 3-for-6 between the two games to lead the UT Tyler offense.
 
UT Tyler will stay on the road against another nationally-ranked opponent on Sunday afternoon in a 12 p.m. meeting in Lubbock, Texas against #10 Lubbock Christian.