The No. 24 Lady Buffs traveled to Denton, Texas this weekend to compete in the Lone Star Conference tournament as the defending LSC Champions. WTAMU entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed after dropping two of three games to No. 2 seed Texas Woman’s University on April 20-21.
Before the tournament started, the teams all gathered for LSC’s annual awards on April 26. Alyssa Lemos and Marci Womack were placed on the All-Academic Team due to their scholarly success while Allie Cranfill and Kim LeComte were both given Golden Glove Awards. Cranfill, who had an extremely successful first season at WT, was named the LSC Freshman of the Year and put on the All-LSC first team with teammate Kim LeComte. Meghan Brown and Marci Womack were both named to the All-LSC second team while Renee Erwin rounded out the list with a spot on the third team.
The Lady Buffs step onto the field for the first time for a Friday afternoon game against Abilene Christian in the quarterfinals. WT made an impact quickly, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take the 3-0 lead. The Lady Buffs waited until the third inning to add to their total, grabbing another run off a Lacey Seidl single to left field.The Wildcats would get their only run of the game off of a bases loaded walk in the top of the sixth inning. The Lady Buffs wouldn’t let the team get close in scoring, adding another run in the bottom of the sixth to win the game 5-1. Marci Womack picked up the win in the circle, only recording five hits and six strikeouts in the complete game win.
WT took on Angelo State in the Saturday semi-finals for a chance to move on to the Championship game that night. However, the Rambelles started their scoring early, bringing in their first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Both teams went scoreless in the next two innings but ASU would hit a streak in the bottom of the fourth, scoring six runs off of four hits.
The Lady Buffs tried to rebound in the fifth inning, scoring two runs off of bases loaded walks. The inning ended with a score of 7-3 in favor of the Rambelles. The scoring didn’t end until the fifth and final inning when the Rambelles scored four more runs to take the game 11-3.
Senior Marci Womack picked up the loss with her three innings in the circle, giving up seven of the games 11 runs. Womack was named to the LSC All Tournament Team for her work this weekend.
“It was a good year,” Head Coach Kevin Blaskowski said. “We won at least 35 games for the 4th year in a row. I was very proud of the individual efforts of a number of players. Offensively, Kim [LeComte], Meghan [Brown], Allie [Cranfill] and Renee [Erwin] had good years. Marci [Womack] was very good despite suffering from a foot injury all year. I feel like we have a strong nucleus to build on. It’s going to be very difficult to replace Kim [LeComte], Meghan [Brown] and Marci [Womack]. They have definitely left their mark on our program.”
The Lady Buffs now have a record of 35-18 overall this season with a conference record of 16-11 for a 59 percent win-rate in the Lone Star Conference. WT still has a chance to continue their post season depending on if they are selected to move on in the 2012 NCAA Division II Post Season Selection Show.
