WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS - The Ranger softball team was in a battle Saturday afternoon, day two of the four day tournament at Midwestern State.
The two teams were stuck in a pitcher's duel as the two starting pitchers Ireland Caro, and Savannah Egger each went four straight scoreless innings before a four run fifth inning gave Fort Hays St. control in the loss for Northwestern.
Northwestern had four different players with a hit each for the team's four hits. Avery Tittle drove in the team's run in the seventh inning on an RBI single to score Macy Spearman.
In the opening inning the Lady Rangers went down in order before Fort Hays State opened with a one out triple to right field. Caro worked around the triple by striking out the next two batters holding the game at 0-0 in the early going.
Brooklyn LaChappa had the team's first hit in the second inning,and would get into scoring position by later stealing second. Ashley Low followed with a single. She stole second for second and third but a groundout back to the pitcher escaped the jam with a 0-0 game. Caro struck out two more hitters in the second for four total through two innings.
Rangers worked around a runner in scoring position in the third inning before Fort Hays State struck in the bottom of the fifth. A leadoff single followed by a sac bunt and a walk had first and second one out. Tiffany hit a double to left center field for two runs taking a 2-0 lead over the Rangers. She was followed by back to back singles making it 4-0 through five innings.
The Rangers were held scoreless until the seventh inning when Spearman hit a one out single and was followed by a walk setting up first and second. A single by Tittle brought Spearman around to score for a 4-1 game. Northwestern had the tying run at the plate but a fly out to left field closed out the 4-1 victory over the Rangers.
Northwestern will conclude the tournament with a Sunday afternoon double header against Midwestern State at 10:00 AM followed by Cameron University at 12:30 PM.
