Angelo State University

The No. 19-ranked Angelo State softball team (50-15) had its season come to a close Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 loss to No. 2-ranked Valdosta State in the semifinals of the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championship Finals.

The Lady Blazers (51-8) ended the game on the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning when Morgan Johnson hit her seventh home run of the season over the left field fence and was welcome at home by her teammates as VSU advances to Monday's national title game against Hawaii Pacific. That game will be televised live at 2 p.m. Monday on CBS College Sports. The announced of the All-Tournament Team will take place after the championship game.

Valdosta State opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning as the Lady Blazers took advantage of an ASU's only error of the game. Lead-off hitter Amber Shaw reached on a Rambelle fielding error and advanced to second base on a sacrifice by Morgan Littlefield. Two batters later, Alyssa Shirey plated Shaw with a two-out bloop single down the left field line, giving the Lady Blazers an early 1-0 lead.

The Rambelles had chances to counter, getting a runner to second base in the third inning and a runner to third in the fourth frame, but they could not even the contest. The Lady Blazers eventually doubled their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth when Marti Littlefield plated Melesa Jackson with a two-out single to to center field that landed in front of a diving Brittany Astle.

ASU rallied in the fifth as the Rambelles opened the frame four straight hits to tie the game, 2-2. Seniors Nicole Smith and Sarah DeMoss both hit laser shots that tipped of the gloves of the VSU infields to give the Rambelles runners at first and second with no outs. Junior Kaycee Taylor then laced a double off the left field fence, scoring Smith, but DeMoss was thrown out at the plate in an attempt to knot the game. Junior Alix Dean followed Taylor's double with one of her own, scoring sophomore pinch runner Nicole Wellmann from second base.

Dean's double was her 22nd of the season, breaking the ASU single-season record of 21, set by Sandy James last season. The two-bagger was also the Rambelles' 108th of the season, setting a new Lone Star Conference single-season record. Texas Woman's had set the previous mark of 107 doubles this season.

Senior right-hander Chelsea Nelson (29-10) suffered the loss after giving up two earned runs on eight hits in a complete-game performance. Nelson fanned two Lady Blazers and issued three walks in the loss. Smith led the Rambelles going 2-for-3 from the plate with a run scored.

For VSU, Margaret Carter (24-5) earned the victory in relief as she tossed the final 1.2 innings, not allowing an ASU base runner. Holly Satterfield pitched the opening 5.1 innings, giving up two earned runs on seven hits before making her exit. Satterfield struck out five Rambelles and gave up one walk. April Hutchens led the Lady Blazers with a 2-for-3 performance.

The Rambelles closed out their season with 50 or more wins for the third time in four years and fourth time in eight campaigns.  In addition to setting the school's team record for doubles this year, ASU also set a new single-season mark for stolen bases (148) and matched the all-time record for fielding percentage in a season (.968). The Rambelles' 65 games played was one shy of the all-time record (66), set in 2007 (53-13).