CANYON – Lauren Renneker hit a grand slam but the Aggies could not overcome a six run Tarleton State lead to fall 8-4 at the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss the Aggies will play again this evening at 6:30 p.m. against Angelo State or West Texas A&M, Tarleton State will move onto the championship game on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Tarleton State knocked around 15 hits off of three Aggie pitchers and they picked up an early run in the second inning off an error.   The TexAnns added two more on a double in the third all off of two outs to up by three. 

In the fourth, TSU opened the inning with a homer to center field forcing CU to switch pitchers.   Katelyn Craker would come in for Kelsey Watson who went three innings.    The TexAnns hit two infield singles and after an out at second, TSU put two on again and a single down the right field line would hand them a six run lead. 

The Aggies managed to load the bases in the bottom half of the inning and failed to score and after an empty frame by Tarleton State, CU loaded them again.   Renneker pounded a third pitch down the line that ended up hitting the foul pole to clear the bases and get the Ags within two.

Tarleton State opened the sixth with a double and a bunt single to put runners on the corners with no outs.  Following a stolen base to put both runners in scoring position, Sonora Zukerman who came in before fifth got a strikeout and popup.   With a 3-2 count, a fly ball to Jessie Ingrum in left field looked to end the inning however CU was called on an illegal outfield substitution allowing the inning to continue.  The next pitch would be a ball to load the bases and a double allowed two runs to score.

The Aggies would go down in order in the sixth and seventh to fall to 40-17 this season. 

"I take the blame and complete responsibility for the error it took the wind off our sails and killed our momentum," said head coach Rodney DeLong.  "We had our chances to score earlier in the game we'll just try to put it behind us and focus on next game tonight."

Watson will go to 19-8 this season, Zukerman went three innings and give up three runs.