Lady Rangers open season with two wins at home

RANGER, Texas - Madi Stark kicked off the season with a bang as she and the Lady Rangers softball team took two wins from Western Texas College to start the year 2-0.

Even with the wind blowing 30 MPH in from left field, offense was not a problem for the Lady Rangers on Tuesday as they blew past the Westerners 8-3 and 7-5 in the opening double-header.

Game 1:

It took the Lady Rangers two innings to get things started but a leadoff single in the 3rd inning by Maddie Sewell initiated a never-ending barrage of hits by Ranger.  Sewell was followed by Estella Rivas whose triple plated the team's first run of the game.  

Ranger went on to score two more runs in the 3rd inning, followed by a 3-run 4th inning and a 2-run 6th inning. 

Madi Stark led the way at the plate with 3 hits in 4 at-bats including a double and homerun.  Stark drove in 4 RBIs and scored 2 runs. 

In the circle, freshman pitcher Julia Wright (1-0) scattered 6 hits and 3 runs in a complete game effort to secure her first win of the season.  Wright finished the game with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk.  

Game 2:

The Lady Rangers kept their momentum going and took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning when Payton Tisdale drove in the game's first run.  

Western Texas quickly responded by driving in a run of their own, followed by 2 runs in the 3rd inning and 2 runs in the 4th inning.  

Trailing 5-1 in the 4th, Ranger went back to work.  Mackenzie Stark led off the inning with a four pitch walk followed by back-to-back singles by Macey Marino and Maddie Sewell to load the bases.  Sophomore Jessica Ramirez drove in the inning's first 2 runs with a line drive single into centerfield and after a walk by Estella Rivas to load the bases again, Madi Stark hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate another run.  Abi Haston was hit by a pitch to load the bases for a third time in the inning.  With Ranger still down 5-4, Payton Tisdale made her first swing of the at-bat count as she cleared the bases with a double that banged off the left field fence to put the Lady Rangers ahead 7-5.  

Payton Tisdale led all hitting, going 3-4 with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs.

The Ranger bullpen took over in the 5th inning as Maci Walker threw 2.1 innings of shutout ball followed by a 2 out save by Julia Wright.  

Kendra Evans (1-0) earned her first win of the year and Julia Wright (1) notched the save.

The Lady Rangers are back in action Friday, February 5th when they compete in the Cowtown Classic Tournament in Ft. Worth, TX.