OKLAHOMA CITY – The Cameron softball team begins the Lone Star Conference Championship on Thursday with a first round battle against St. Mary's for a chance to play the top seed in the quarterfinals.

Hosted by Oklahoma Christian, the 10-team LSC Tournament begins Thursday with a quartet of games on day one. It starts with a pair of first-round games between the bottom four seeds in the tournament, an eight-nine matchup between Cameron and StMU and a seven-10 battle between St. Edward's and Lubbock Christian. The winners move on to face the top two seeds, Oklahoma Christian and Angelo State, later in the day.

The Aggies posted a 25-17 record during the regular season, going 16-14 in conference play. They finished the year with three straight doubleheaders against top-10 ranked opponents, going 2-4 during that span with series splits against No. 10 Texas A&M-Commerce and the fourth ranked Eagles.

With those big wins, Cameron has jumped up into the South Central regional rankings, coming in at No. 8 when they were released on Wednesday afternoon. The top six teams in the region will make the tournament, with the winners of both the LSC and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournaments earning automatic bids.

Brenna Busby, the Academic Player of the Year in the LSC for 2021, leads CU at the plate, batting .367 with 48 runs scored and 28 stolen bases. She sets the table for the power bats of fellow All-LSC first team selections Callie Christensen and Khmari Edwards. Edwards is hitting .363 for CU with a team-high 36 RBI and 12 doubles, while Christensen leads the league with 11 homers to go along with a .356 average. The trio leads an offense that has seven of their nine everyday starters hitting over .300 with just under six runs per outing.

In the circle, the Aggies have a three-headed monster that has proven to be able to hold down some of the top offenses in Division II. Senior Bethany Hines leads the way with a 2.93 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 122 innings of work. Breley Webb, who is also batting .328 with 20 RBI, has struck out 77 batters in 88 innings to go along with a 3.26 ERA. Freshman Jocelyn Bright has come on strong to end the season, holding opponents to a .226 batting average in 13 appearances; she held the Eagles and Lions to a combined seven hits and two earned runs while striking out 10 batters to close out the season.

When Cameron and the Rattlers, who went 20-22 during the regular season, met up earlier this season the Aggies came away with a doubleheader sweep, but they were two hard-fought wins. Webb and Hines limited the rattlers to just two late runs in game one, stranding 11 runners on base in the 6-2 win. The two teams battled to a 3-3 tie before CU scored four runs in the 11th to earn the win. The Aggies had a season-best 20 hits and stranded 17 runners on base in the win. Busby led the way with four hits and Richmond and Webb each had three.

St. Mary's had just two players named All-LSC, while CU had seven on the all-conference teams. Second baseman Jayme Johns was named to the second team and outfielder Victoria Aldridge was named to the third team. Johns is batting .392 this season with 32 runs scored and 22 RBI, while Aldridge is hitting .398 in 88 at-bats. The Rattlers are batting .286 as a team, while recording a 3.47 team ERA, led by Alex McLennan, who has a 2.81 ERA in 102 innings in the circle.

The game against the Rattlers and Cameron at Tom Heath Field is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. If CU were to win, they would face OC at 6:30 p.m. the same day. The winner of that matchup would go on to play the winner of West Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville in the semifinal at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. The LSC Championship final is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 15.