CANYON, Texas – The #4 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M led by seven runs heading into the fifth inning but the Tarleton State TexAnns fought back to put the tying and winning run in scoring position in the top of the seventh before Kami Merrill closed out the save with a lineout to left as WT outlasted the TexAnns, 7-6 in front of over 600 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas during Day 1 of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament. The Lady Buffs move to 43-9 overall with the win while the TexAnns fall to 35-21 on the season.
 
"We knew coming in that it was going to be another great ballgame, our series in Stephenville earlier this year was a fight and we were fortunate to get a couple of big innings early to stretch it out" said WT head coach Kevin Blaskowski "They got hot and created a lot of offense, Kilee threw a good ballgame and Kami came in and got the job done."
 
The teams traded zeroes in the first inning and a half before Kylee Moore started off the home half of the second with a full-count single to right field followed by a walk to Allie Smith to put runners on first and second with no outs, Shayne Starkey walked to load the bases followed by a Shanna McBroom RBI single thru the left side for the game's first run. Brittany Cruz grounded into a double play to drive in another run followed by an Alyx Cordell RBI single to center field to give the Lady Buffs the 3-0 lead.
 
The TexAnns looked to cut into the lead in the top of the third inning as they put runners on first and second with one out before Kilee Halbert forced a pair of groundouts to end the inning with WT leading 3-0. Halbert continued to roll in the top of the fourth inning as the junior struck out a pair to keep the lead. Starkey led off the bottom of the fifth with a hit-by-pitch followed by a McBroom bunt single, a fielder's choice cut down the lead runner before a Cordell RBI single down the left field line before a TSU error scored another run to run the lead to 5-0. Kourtney Coveney doubled to the right center field gap to score a pair and run the lead to 7-0.
 
TSU gained some momentum in the top of the fifth as they put runners on second and third with one out before a Meghan Wrinkle RBI single to left field to score Avery Mullendore, Nyka Wood grounded out to Coveney at second to drive in another run before a stolen base and throwing error by the Lady Buffs cut the lead to 7-3.
 
Savannah Stech walked to leadoff the sixth followed by a Marisa Flores single thru the right side, Halbert force a flyout to Cruz in right center followed by a strikeout but Avery Mullendore tripled to the right center field gap to drive in a pair followed by an infield single to the circle to cut the lead to 7-6 and force Halbert from the circle before Kami Merrill entered and needed just two pitches to force a groundout back to the circle.
 
Wood started off the top of the seventh with a double off the top of the wall in left center followed by a Meghann Durante single thru the left side to put runners on the corners with no outs, Merrill forced a grounder to Coveney for the first out followed by a big strikeout followed by a line drive to Starkey in left to end the game, 7-6.
 
Halbert picked up the win (22-3) for the Lady Buffs, giving up six runs (four earned) on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts in her 5.2 innings of work while Merrill picked up her third save, giving up no runs on two hits with no walks and a strikeout in the final 1.1.
 
The Lady Buffs advance to the winner's side of the bracket as they face off with #20 St. Mary's on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. for a spot in Championship Saturday. The Rattlers trailed Texas Woman's 3-0 after a half inning of play before the Heartland Conference Regular Season Champions outlasted the Pioneers, 7-5.