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CANYON, Texas – The #14 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M return to the friendly confines of Schaeffer Park this weekend as they host the Falcons of UT Permian Basin in a three-game Lone Star Conference series during Special Olympics Weekend in Canyon. Game one is scheduled for Thursday night at 6 p.m. followed by a Friday afternoon doubleheader at 1 p.m. during Easter Weekend.
 
- SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
UT PERMIAN BASIN
The Falcons enter the weekend with an overall record of 12-24 with a 1-14 mark in Lone Star Conference play after taking one of three games from Eastern New Mexico last weekend in Odessa. UTPB is 5-10 so far this season on the road.
 
UTPB is guided by fourth year head coach Tiala Tagaloa who is the longest tenured softball coach in program history, she came to UTPB in 2015 after nine seasons as the assistant coach at New Mexico State University.
 
The Falcons are led offensively by Maritza Rojas who is hitting .405 on the season with two doubles, two triples and one homerun to drive in 16 RBI with 39 total bases for a slugging percentage of .527. In the circle, Rojas also leads the way with a 4.44 ERA (5-7) as she has registered eight complete games in 16 appearances with 55 strikeouts in 79.0 innings of work to allow an opposing batting average of .260.
 
UTPB is hitting .254 as a team with 29 doubles, eight triples and 11 homeruns to drive in 101 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .342. Defensively they have committed 47 errors on 1,012 chances for a fielding clip of .954. In the circle, they have registered a 6.67 staff ERA with 14 complete games, one shutout and 105 strikeouts while allowing an opposing batting average of .322.
 
THE SERIES vs. UTPB
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series against the Falcons, 28-1 in a series dating back to the 2007 season. WT has claimed the last 26 meetings between the two teams including all 11 meetings in Canyon.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
National Runner-Up Angelo State picked up 29 of the possible 33 first place votes for a total of 359 points to sit atop of the poll followed by WT (three first place, 306 points), Texas Woman's (one first place, 267 points), Tarleton State (257), Cameron (250), Texas A&M-Commerce (223), Texas A&M-Kingsville (170), Midwestern State (135), Eastern New Mexico (108), UT Permian Basin (64) and Western New Mexico (39).
 
Angelo State's Brandy Marlett was named the league's Preseason Pitcher of the Year while Mariah Jameyson from Texas A&M-Commerce was tabbed the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. The poll is voted on by head coaches, sports information directors and media representatives throughout the league.
 
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (MAR. 28)
Colorado Mesa remained in the top spot in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top-25 Poll announced on Wednesday morning by the association's offices in Louisville, Kentucky. The Mavericks picked up 14 of the possible 16 first place votes for a total of 398 points followed by North Georgia (two first place, 386), Chico State (368), Angelo State (336), Dixie State (323), Southern Arkansas (314), Palm Beach Atlantic (295), Winona State (285), Texas A&M-Commerce (278) and North Alabama (254) to round out the top ten.
 
The South Central Region was represented by Colorado Mesa (1st), Angelo State (4th), Texas A&M-Commerce (9th), West Texas A&M (14th), Tarleton State (20th) and Colorado Christian (RV)..
 
WT SOFTBALL IN THE NFCA TOP-25 POLL
The Lady Buffs have been ranked inside of the NFCA Division II Top-25 for 62 consecutive polls. The Lady Buffs have been ranked in the Top-5 in 41 polls since the start of the 2014 season while sitting atop of the poll an incredible 29 times.
 
NFCA DII NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCHLIST
West Texas A&M's Kilee Halbert, Allie Smith and Ashley Hardin were named to the NFCA Division II Schutt Sports National Player of the Year Preseason Top-50 Watch List announced on February 8th by the association's offices in Louisville, Kentucky. The three Lady Buffs are part of 10 selections from the South Central Region including three of the six student-athletes selected from the Lone Star Conference.
 
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Entering the week, LSC softball teams were 210-143 overall this season.  In the NCAA South Central Region, the group is currently 38-12 combined versus Heartland Conference teams and 24-15 against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.LSC teams are playing a single round-robin schedule with a three-game series against each league opponent. The overall LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games, while the winner of the postseason championship will be recognized as LSC Tournament Champion and receive the league's automatic qualification into NCAA postseason.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE CAREER HOMERUN LEADER
West Texas A&M senior outfielder Ashley Hardin became the new Lone Star Conference career leader in homeruns back on Tuesday, March 13th in Lakewood, Colorado as the Flower Mound native tied a single game league record with three homeruns in a game to push her career total to 67 to surpass former Midwestern State All-American Katelyn Vinson (2013-2016). Hardin is also on-pace to become the league's new leader in RBI as she sits just nine behind former teammate and two-time National Player of the Year Renee Erwin (2012-2015).
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Lady Buffs have turned Schaeffer Park into one of the top home environments in all of NCAA Division II Softball. WT is 214-36 (.856) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season including 88-17 (.838) during regular season Lone Star Conference games in Canyon. 2017 marked the sixth time in the last seven years ('11, '13, '14, '15, '16, '17) that the Lady Buffs hosted NCAA Postseason action in Canyon.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The West Texas A&M Athletic Communications Department will provide live stats and a webstreak for this weekend's series. Fans can also follow the WT Athletics (@WTAthletics) Twitter account for live updates. For links and more information, visit the Lady Buff Softball schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com.
 
LADY BUFFS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Lady Buffs made their fifth straight and seventh overall appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball postseason during the 2017 campaign.
 
The Lady Buffs are 26-16 all-time in the NCAA Postseason including 18-10 in games played at Schaeffer Park. WT is 5-2 in the College World Seris as they claimed the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship.
 
RELOAD NOT REBUILD
The Lady Buffs boast a roster of four All-Americans and eight returners along with talented newcomers. WT will be guided by Kilee Halbert in the circle while Kylee Moore, Allie Smith, Ashley Hardin, Shanna McBroom, Alyx Cordell, Kourtney Coveney and Shayne Starkey all return to the starting lineup for the always powerful Lady Buff lineup.
 
2017 IN-REVIEW
The Lady Buffs continued to prove themselves as one of the top programs in all of Division II Softball during the 2017 campaign as they claimed the program's fourth Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship and hosted the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament for the fifth straight season. The Lady Buffs hit .371 as a team with 120 doubles, 10 triples and 98 homeruns to drive in 401 RBI for an incredible slugging percentage of .667. In the circle, the Lady Buffs registered a 2.47 ERA as a staff with 26 complete games, and 11 shutouts (three combined) to go along with 231 strikeout in 339.2 innings of work to allow an opponent batting average of .268 on the season.