CANYON, Texas – The #4 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M stranded eight base runners and only produced two hits on Friday afternoon as they fell to the #20 Rattlers of St. Mary's during the NCAA South Central II Regional Tournament in front of almost 600 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. The Rattlers improve to 44-14 on the season as they advance to Championship Saturday while the Lady Buffs fall to 43-10 overall.
 
West Texas A&M's Alexis Alfonso came out firing in the top of the first inning as the senior right hander needed just seven pitches to get thru the first three Rattlers in order, the Lady Buffs looked to jump out to an early lead as Shea Ibrahim drew a leadoff walk before three straight fly balls ended the inning tied at 0-0.
 
The Rattlers got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning as Raynelle Nash connected on a 1-1 offering for a solo homerun to left center to leadoff the inning for the 1-0 lead. Ashley Hardin flew out to the warning track in right field for the first out of the fourth followed by a Rattler pitching change as Ashley Mills entered from the bullpen, Kylee Moore drew a four pitch walk followed by a strikeout before Maddie Green walked but a grounder to short ended the threat.
 
St. Mary's looked to add to their lead in the top of the sixth inning as a leadoff walk and Hannah Michel double to left field with two outs knocked Alfonso from the game, Kami Merrill entered from the bullpen and got a strikeout to end the frame. The Lady Buffs wouldn't go down without a fight as Shanna McBroom was hit by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the seventh followed by a Brittany Cruz single to center field to put runners on first and second, Mills forced a line drive to short for the second out followed by an Ibrahim walk to load the bases before a grounder to second ended the game, 1-0.
 
Alfonso picked up the loss in the circle (10-3) for the Lady Buffs, giving up one run on three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in her 5.2 innings of work while Merrill didn't allow a hit in the final 1.1 innings of play with two strikeouts.
 
The Lady Buffs now have to fight their way thru the loser's side of the bracket as they will face off with the winner of the Texas Woman's/Tarleton State elimination game in another elimination contest tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. The winner of tonight's game will have to top St. Mary's twice on Championship Saturday to keep their season alive.