SAN ANGELO, Texas – The #1 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M carried over their offensive explosion from last weekend's sweep of Midwestern State in style on Friday night as they scored 21 runs in the opener as WT's
Rita Hokianga tossed her second career no-hitter while the Lady Buffs pulled out a 2-1 thrilling win in the nightcap at Mayer Field in San Angelo against the #6 Belles of Angelo State. The Lady Buffs move to 19-2 (6-0 LSC) win the wins while the Belles fall to 20-4 (5-3 LSC) on the season.
The Lady Buffs and Belles will conclude their weekend Lone Star Conference series tomorrow afternoon as they hit the artificial surface of Mayer Field with doubleheader action set for a 1 p.m. first pitch in San Angelo.
Game #1#1 West Texas A&M 21, #6 Angelo State 0 (Final/5 Innings)
The Lady Buffs wasted no time continuing their offensive output as
Stacey Ramirez singled to third base with one out followed by a
Renee Erwin walk followed by a wild pitch that moved the runners up 60 feet,
Kaisha Dacosin continued to see the ball well at the dish with a two RBI single up the middle followed by a
Lacey Taylor single and an ASU throwing error to put runners on second and third with one out. WT wasn't done yet as
Allie Smith connected on her first collegiate homerun with a three run blast to left field with one out followed by an
Allie Cranfill walk and
Ashley Hardin hit to continue the frame, a fielder's choice got ASU the second out of the inning as the WT lineup turned over before a
Tyler Wilkinson line drive to second base ended the frame with WT leading 5-0.
The long ball came into play once again in the top of the second inning as Erwin connected on her 45
th career homerun of the season with a solo shot to straight away center field with one out, the Lady Buffs added to their lead once again as Dacosin was hit by a pitch followed by another Taylor single and ASU error to put runners on second and third with one out before Dacosin scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-0. Cranfill singled thru the left side with two on and one out to score the eighth Lady Buff run followed by a three-run Hardin blast to know ASU starter Kenedy Urbany from the circle to take an 11-0 lead after an inning and a half.
The Lady Buffs weren't done yet as Erwin registered her second career game with multiple homeruns (vs. UTPB, 3/26/13) with a two run blast to center field with no outs in the top of the third inning, the next three Lady Buffs registered walks to load the bases followed two batters later by a Hardin walk to drive in her fourth run of the game for the 14-0 lead with the bases loaded and one out.
Brittany Gehle got in the hit parade with an RBI single to left field with one out to drive in Taylor followed by a Wilkinson walk with the bases loaded and one out, Ramirez registered her second hit of the game with a two run double to left center to make it 18-0 followed two batters later by an illegal pitch and a
Hannah Limmer RBI single up the middle to stretch the WT lead to 20-0 headed to the bottom of the third inning.
Rita Hokianga had her third straight strong outing in the circle for the Lady Buffs as she limited the Belles to one base runner via the walk thru the first four innings of play while striking out five batters, the senior left hander looked to make history in the bottom of the fifth inning as she faced 6-7-8 in the ASU order for her bid for the program's seventh no-hitter and her second in a Lady Buff uniform. Hokianga forced a flyout to Erwin in right field for the first out followed by her sixth strikeout of the game as Rachel Moore was called-out looking, the senior left hander would end the game herself with a ground ball back to the circle to complete the first no-hitter since April 4 of last year when the Lady Buffs topped Texas A&M-Kingsville, 10-0 in five innings with Hokianga in the circle.
She moved to 8-2 in the circle, giving up no runs on no hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in the complete game win as she joins Lindsay Wright and Shelbey Cockrell as the only other Lady Buffs with multiple no-hitters in their careers. It also marks the first time in the Travis Scott era (2004-Present) at Angelo State that the Belles have given up 20 runs in a single game.
Game #2#1 West Texas A&M 2, #6 Angelo State 1
The nightcap saw both teams go scoreless in the first inning followed by a Taylor single to center field to leadoff the top of the second inning to register the first hit off of ASU's Brandy Marlett in two starts as the freshman tossed a no-hitter against #5 St Mary's on Wednesday night in San Angelo. Smith followed with an infield single to third base to put runners on first and second with no outs before Marlett responded with three straight outs to end the inning with the score tied at 0-0.
The Lady Buffs threatened in the top of the second inning as Ramirez walked with one out and ended up at third with a pair of stolen bases but Marlett answered once again with pair of strikeouts in the heart of the WT lineup to end the inning with the teams tied at 0-0 headed to the bottom of the second. WT started off the scoring in the top of the fourth inning as Smith singled up the middle with one out and
Morgan Harrison entered to pinch-run, Cranfill drove in Harrison with an RBI double to the left center field gap followed two batters later by a Gehle RBI single to drive in Cranfill following an ASU throwing error for the 2-0 lead.
Hannah Newcomb was strong in the circle in her own right following Hokianga's no-hitter earlier in the night as the junior right hander allowed no baserunners thru the first three innings of play, the Belles threatened in the bottom of the fourth with a walk and a sac bunt before ASU's first hit of the game put runners on the corners with one out. Urbany grounded out to Dacosin at third base for an RBI for Angelo's first run of the night followed by a Darian Dunn walk to put Belles on first and second with two outs before Newcomb struck out her fifth batter of the game to hold the 2-1 lead after four innings of play.
The Belles wouldn't go down without a fight as they used a WT fielding error and a single up the middle to put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning to knock Newcomb from the game, Hokianga entered the game and was strong again as the senior lefty got out of a jam with runners on first and second with two outs as she forced two outs including a strikeout to end the inning with WT leading 2-1. The bottom of the seventh saw the Belles put a runner on via the walk with one out before registered another strikeout and a fly ball to Hardin in left to end the game as WT took the nightcap of a doubleheader, 2-1. Newcomb moved to 5-0 in the circle, giving up one run on two hits with three walks and six strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work while Hokianga picked up her second save of the season as she walked one and struck out two in her 1.2 innings.
