SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - #2 UT Tyler fell by a 3-2 final to (RV) Angelo State in extra innings on Sunday afternoon.
The Rambelles finally pushed the winning run across in the bottom of the eighth inning to collect the 2-1 series victory after the two teams combined to strand 19 baserunners in the ball game. Junior
Audrey Escamilla finished the day 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI to lead a Patriot offense that totaled four hits on the afternoon.
The Patriots drew 10 free bases throughout the ballgame on five walks and five hit by pitches. UT Tyler quickly answered a four-run bottom of the fourth inning by Angelo State with a pair of runs of their own in the top of the fifth to make it 2-2.
Junior
Michelle Arias led off that top of the fifth with a double, and then came around to score on an Escamilla double with one out on the board to make it 2-1. A costly fielding mistake by the Rambelles with two outs allowed pinch runner
Berlyn Grossman to score after sophomore
Cassidi Mullen put the ball in play and forced the defensive miscue by the Rambelles.
Starter
Tatum Goff went 3.1 innings before a leadoff solo homer in the bottom of the fourth and an ensuing walk and single brought on graduate student
Shea O'Leary. O'Leary limited the damage with runners on second and third with one out by allowing just a single run in the inning.
O'Leary stranded the bases loaded in that frame before the Patriots tied it up with their aforementioned two-run top of the fifth in their next trip to the plate. Both teams would continue that theme of leaving baserunners aboard over the course of the next three innings, as both teams put a runner on in each of their trips to the plate from that point forward.
UT Tyler provided the biggest threat in the top of the seventh, leaving the bases loaded before Angelo State finally walked it off in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of doubles to end the game at it's 3-2 final.
O'Leary suffered the loss despite the quality work in relief, allowing just a single run over 3.2 innings of work.
The Patriots fall to 14-3 on the year and 7-2 in Lone Star Conference play.
UT Tyler will return home for a week of softball at Irwin Ballpark consisting of a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday against Southeastern Oklahoma State at 1 p.m., and then a weekend home series with (RV) West Texas A&M.
