- Box Score

DENTON – In the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Softball Championship Tournament, No. 3 Tarleton and Midwsestern State took a slugfest down to the wire but the TexAnns (31-20, 16-11) fell 9-8 to the Mustangs (26-24, 15-12).
 
Tarleton got the scoring started with a three-run bottom of the second, which was started by a bloop single by McKaylee Pittman just out of reach of the Midwestern shortstop.
 
After Alex Orf sacrificed Pittman into scoring position and Courtney Vroman was inserted to run at second, Bailee Mauldin drilled a line drive to left center to score Vroman and put Tarleton up 1-0.
 
With two outs in the inning, Kelsey Latta ripped a base hit of her own which moved Mauldin to third. Latta took second on the throw and brought up the top of the Tarleton lineup.
 
On the next pitch, Arianna Rodriguez wasted no time jumping all over the MSU pitch shooting it to right field and plating both TexAnn baserunners. The TexAnns' threat ended after that, but Tarleton led 3-0.
 
Midwestern answered right back with a three-run top of the third on a two-RBI triple and an RBI single before Tarleton pitcher Samantha Swanda stopped the bleeding by inducing a 4-6-3 double play and a pop up to the catcher.
 
The Mustangs took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-out rally. MSU struck for a two-run homer and an RBI single to center field.
 
After Swanda battled back to keep MSU off the scoreboard in the top of the fifth, Katie Welborn got the TexAnns one run closer with a deep bomb to straight away left field. That was Welborn's 15^th homer of the season and 24^th of her Tarleton career.
 
Tarleton had a chance for more in the fifth with runners on second and third with one out, but couldn't capitalize.
 
Midwestern continued to add to its lead in the sixth with a two-out, two-RBI single to left field to push its lead up to 8-4.
 
Tarleton got another pair of base runners in the bottom of the sixth, but a hard hit grounder right to the MSU second baseman ended the TexAnn threat.
 
Midwestern added one more run in the seventh when a wind-aided fly ball carried over the left field wall for a solo homer and a 9-4 MSU lead. The Mustangs loaded the bases in the seventh, but Kirby Crow kept MSU off the board anymore after replacing Swanda.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Tarleton loaded the bases with two outs for the top of the order and the TexAnns all-time home run leader.
 
On the third pitch Rodriguez saw from Brenna Hennan, she blasted off to deep left center field for a grand slam and her 18^th homer of the season to bring Tarleton within one at 9-8.
 
Swanda took the loss after pitching 6.1 innings allowing nine runs on 10 hits and three walks. The LSC strikeout leader did K nine Mustang hitters.
 
Rodriguez, Welborn, Pittman and Orf each had two hits on the day while Abigail Tammen, Swanda, Mauldin and Latta had the rest of Tarleton's 12 total hits.
 
The TexAnns entered the tournament ranked No. 9 in the South Central Regional rankings and will await the final NCAA poll released next week to see if their season continues.