CANYON, Texas – The top ranked Lady Buff of West Texas A&M took a one run lead into the bottom of the third inning but a big two-out hit and a costly WT error gave the Colorado Mesa Mavericks the 2-1 win in a great game during the South Central Regional Tournament at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas on Friday afternoon. The Lady Buffs snap a 17-game win streak to fall to 53-3 overall while the Mavericks advance to Championship Saturday with a record of 40-11.
 
The first two innings were a pitcher's duel between two of the best in the South Central Region as WT's Kilee Halbert and CMU's McKenzie Surface went the first two frames without allowing a hit, Brittany Gehle started the offense with a double off of the black monster in left field with one out followed by a perfect drag bunt by Andrea Sitter along with a heads up move on the bases as the senior took second with no one there. Shea Ibrahim lifted a ball into the wind in right field to score Gehle from third on a sac fly for the 1-0 lead.
 
CMU registered their first hit of the game in the bottom of the third with a bloop double to left center with one out followed by a groundout to Shayne Starkey at first to move the runner up 60 feet, Alexandria Dufor tied the game up with a single back to the circle with two outs followed by a double down the left field line by Baylee Boren that brought Dufor around third and a throw beat the runner but a collision knocked the ball loose to give the Mavericks the 2-1 lead.
 
The Mavericks looked to add to their lead in the home half of the fourth as they had runners on first and second with one out followed by a sac bunt to move the runners into scoring position before Halbert responded with her fourth strikeout of the game to end the threat at 2-1. Gehle led off the fifth with a four-pitch walk followed by another perfect Sitter bunt single to put runners on first and second with no outs, Ibrahim lifted anther ball to the warning track as the runners moved up, Surface responded with a strikeout for the second out of the inning followed by a line drive out to center field to keep the 2-1 lead for CMU.
 
The Lady Buffs looked for some seventh inning magic in the top of the frame as Brittany Cruz led off the frame with a stand-up double off of the left center field wall before three straight outs including a pair of strikeouts to end the game, 2-1. Halbert picked up the loss (23-2) for the Lady Buffs, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts in the complete game effort.
 
WT will now have to come thru the loser's side of the bracket as they take on the winner of Texas A&M-Commerce/Metro State in an elimination game tonight with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. in Canyon. The winner of tonight's Game 5 will advance to Championship Saturday with a pair of wins needed over Colorado Mesa for the Regional Championship.