TYLER, TEXAS – The no. 1 seeded UT Tyler's run in their first Lone Star Conference Softball Championship came to an end on Saturday night at Suddenlink Field as a late inning rally came up just short in a 5-4 loss to no. 4 seeded Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
Three unanswered runs in the fourth and sixth innings for the Patriots cut a once 5-1 lead for the Lions down to just a single run, but a pair of key defensive plays for Texas A&M-Commerce stifled another Patriot rally in the bottom of the seventh. The no. 1 ranked Patriots in the 2022 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll will now await their seeding in the 2022 NCAA South Central Regional Tournament.
 
The announcement for that field will take place on Monday at 9 a.m. CST on NCAA.com during an online selection show. The Patriots were ranked as the no. 1 team in all three NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings, and figure to have a resume good enough to earn one of six at-large bids into the eight-team field.
 
That field will be broken into a pair of four-team double elimination brackets, contested at each of the top two seeds host sites on May 12-14.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce hung on to a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning in the second of two semifinal games of the 2022 LSC Softball Championship to advance to Saturday afternoon's championship match against the no. 2 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
Sophomore Tatum Goff gave UT Tyler a lead in the bottom half of the first inning with a two-out RBI single that plated senior Shannon Klaus to make it 1-0 in favor of the Patriots. Texas A&M-Commerce answered with runs in the second, third and fourth innings to build a 5-1 advantage after four trips to the plate.
 
Sophomore Amanda Marek got the string of unanswered runs for UT Tyler started with a double to rightfield that scored classmate Hanna Fradkin on the second RBI for the Patriots on the night with two outs on the board. The 5-2 margin held through the fifth inning before UT Tyler continued the comeback rally in the bottom of the sixth, and were sparked by an RBI single up the middle from pinch-hitter Avery Farr.
 
A wild pitch from the Lions sent senior Mak Dominguez home a few batters later for the second run of the inning to make it just a one-run ballgame at 5-4. Senior Sarah Gartman refused to allow any insurance runs for Texas A&M-Commerce in the top of the seventh, working around runners on second and third without conceding a run to keep the one-run deficit in-tact heading into the final at-bat of the night for UT Tyler.
 
A highlight play at second base for Texas A&M-Commerce stole an infield hit from sophomore Courtney Plocheck to lead off that last chance for the Patriots, and then an on-the-mark throw from rightfield retired the final out of the ballgame for the Lions a few batters later after a two-out RBI single from Goff.
 
Goff and Klaus both finished their evening 2-for-4, and were joined with multi-hit efforts at the plate by sophomore Audrey Escamilla. Goff got the start in the circle for UT Tyler after tossing a no-hitter in the Patriot 10-0 run-rule in Friday night's quarterfinals against the no. 8 seed West Texas A&M, but suffered the loss after allowing four runs off four hits on Saturday.
 
Gartman allowed just a single earned run in her 4.0 innings of relief work in support of Goff.