STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton dropped both games of Friday's doubleheader to Angelo State at the Tarleton Softball Complex.
  
Five unearned runs over the first two innings proved too much of a deficit for Tarleton to overcome as Angelo State took the opening game of the series 5-4 at the Tarleton Softball Complex.
 
Angelo State took advantage of three errors in the first two innings and put up a three spot in the top of the first and two more in the second to build a 5-0 advantage off Tarleton starter Haley Freyman, who took the tough-luck loss despite pitching all seven innings and allowing no earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts.
 
Tarleton started its comeback effort in the second inning when Avery Mullendore ripped an RBI single into centerfield for the first Tarleton run of the game. Shelby Hedrick followed up with a line-drive home run off the left-centerfield scoreboard to pull the TexAnns within two at 5-3.
 
While Freyman kept the Rambelle offense in check, Tarleton tacked on one more in the when Hedrick came in to score on an RBI single from Nyka Wood. Hedrick came up inches short of her second home run of the game when her leadoff hit bounced off the top of the centerfield wall and back into the field of play for a long, leadoff single.
 
Tarleton had its chance in the bottom of the seventh Katelyn Conlee drew a walk and Wood ripped a single with one out, but back-to-back pop-ups ended the TexAnn threat.
 
The TexAnns boasted an eight-hit effort with Wood, Savannah Stech, and Hedrick each recording two hits each. Alyssa Ringhausen and Mullendore had one hit each in the loss.
  
In a game much closer than the final score indicates, Tarleton suffered a sweep at the hands of Angelo State on Friday with a 9-4 loss in the nightcap.
 
Tarleton opened up the scoring in game two when Alyssa Ringhausen ripped a one-out, two-RBI double to centerfield to bring home Mullendore and Conlee for a 2-0 TexAnn lead in the bottom of the second.
 
Angelo State answered in the top of the third inning when three walks, a fielder's choice, a Tarleton error, and two ill-timed singles allowed the Rambelles the opportunity to put up four in the inning and take a 4-2 lead.
 
Tarleton chipped back with one in the fourth on an RBI single up the middle from Taylor Fitzgerald, but the Rambelles answered with one of their own in the ensuing half inning to keep the deficit at two going into the bottom of the sixth.
 
Angelo State put up a four-spot in the top of the seventh, with the big hit of the inning coming on a bases-clearing double for three RBIs. Tarleton got a solo home run from Savannah Stech in the final frame, but it wasn't enough as the TexAnns fell.
 
Alyssa Ringhausen boasted a 3-for-3 performance at the plate with two RBIs while Mullendore and Stech each had two hits. Melody Mayse, Hedrick, Conlee, and Taylor Fitzgerald had one hit each to round out Tarleton's 11-hit effort.
 
The series will wrap up Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Stephenville.