TUCSON, Arizona – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M began their 2015 season in style on Friday afternoon as they used a Lacey Taylor two-run bomb to break a 3-3 tie in the top of the third inning on their way to a 10-7 victory over the Tigers of East Central at Lincoln Park during the NFCA DII Leadoff Classic in Tucson, Arizona. The Lady Buffs move to 1-0 on the season while the Tigers fall to 0-1.
 
"Not a bad way to start the season, defensively we struggled a little early but I'm proud that we stayed composed and locked-in. We knew that ECU has a lot of returners and experience and that they would come out swinging" said WT head coach Kevin Blaskowski "Give our hitters credit for sticking to the gameplan and making adjustments and Rita had a solid outing in the circle."
 
The Tigers registered the first hit of the game in the bottom of the first inning as Autumn Suydam launched a ball to deep left center that hopped over the temporary fence for a ground rule double, the next two batters grounded out on one pitch each to the left side of the infield before Jordynn VanPelt drove home the first run of the game with an RBI single to right center. The runner advanced to third base on a wild pitch before a popup in foul territory to Kaisha Dacosin at third base ended the inning with ECU leading 1-0.
 
The Lady Buffs responded in the top of the second inning as an Allie Smith leaoff walk and a Lacey Taylor one out single brought freshman Ashley Hardin to the dish for her first collegiate at-bat and the newcomer delivered with an RBI single to right field that got by an ECU defender and rolled all the way to the wall to score Smith and Taylor as Hardin stopped at third base with the 2-1 lead. WT wasn't done yet as Tyler Wilkinson drew a walk with two outs from the leadoff spot followed by a Stacey Ramirez RBI single up the middle in her first game in a WT uniform to run the Lady Buff lead to 3-1.
 
East Central threatened in the bottom of the frame as a leadoff hit-by-pitch was followed by a full count walk before the Tigers popped-up a bunt to Allie Cranfill at first base for the first out before Kaile Marcum singled to right field to drive in a run and cut the lead to 3-2 with one out. A Lady Buff fielding error allowed the tying run to cross the plate followed by a groundout to Ramirez at shortstop and a runner interference call that ended the inning with the teams tied at 3-3.
 
The Lady Buffs responded once again in the top of the third inning as Cranfill singled to center field with two outs followed by a long at-bat won by Taylor who launched a two run blast deep into the sunset beyond the right field fence to give WT the 5-3 lead headed to the bottom of the third frame. Rita Hokianga finally found her rhythm in the bottom of the frame as she registered her first strikeout of the season to leadoff the inning followed by a WT fielding error but the senior lefty got out of the jam as she forced a ground ball to Brittany Gehle at second base who tagged the baserunner and threw to first for the inning-ending double play.
 
Gehle ledoff the top of the fourth inning with a four pitch walk to knock ECU starter Lacey Paulk out of the game followed by a five pitch free pass to Wilkinson, a passed ball moved the runners up 60 feet followed eight pitches later by a Tiger throwing error on a slow roller that plated Gehle with no outs. WT added to their lead with a Renee Erwin two RBI single up the middle to score Wilkinson and Ramirez for the 8-3 lead. WT would add to their lead in the top of the sixth inning as Dacosin singled up the middle to score Wilkinson from second base followed by Ramirez crossing the plate during a rundown between first and second to run the WT lead to 10-3 headed to the bottom of the sixth.
 
The Tigers wouldn't go down without a fight as they forced Hokianga out of the game with runners on first and second with one out before loading the bases followed by a soft grounder to the circle that scored a run, Kilee Halbert gave up an RBI groundout to third followed by another Lady Buff error that put across two more ECU runs before Halbert registered a strikeout to end the game.
 
Hokianga picked up the win in the circle (1-0) for the Lady Buffs, allowing four runs (2 earned) on four hits with three walks and five strikeout in her 6.1 innings of work while Halbert made her first collegiate appearance as she allowed three runs (1 earned) on two hits with no walks and one strikeout in 0.2 innings of work.
 
The Lady Buffs were originally scheduled to face-off with #23 Cal Baptist on Friday night but due to earlier games running long and an ordinance in the City of Tucson prohibiting complex lights to be on in a residential area past 11:00 p.m. local time, the WT/CBU contest was cancelled. WT will wrap-up pool play tomorrow morning as they take on Western Oregon with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. CT at Lincoln Park, the top eight teams following pool play will advance to the Gold Bracket with times and opponents to be determined.