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CANYON, Texas – The #2 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M will battle for first place in the Lone Star Conference this weekend as they travel to Lawton, Oklahoma for a four-game LSC series against the #25 Aggies of Cameron starting on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. at McMahon Field with the final two games taking place on Saturday afternoon with first pitch of a doubleheader set for 12 p.m.
 
WEST TEXAS A&M
Then #1 West Texas A&M lost a heartbreaker in their Tuesday midweek opener at Lubbock Christian on a walkoff wild pitch but responded in the nightcap with homeruns by Allie Smith and Tyler Wilkinson along with a strong outing in the circle by Kilee Halbert and Rita Hokianga gave the Lady Buffs the 4-3 win in the nightcap to split action with the Heartland Conference leading Lady Chaps of LCU as the Lady Buffs move to 24-5 overall with a 10-2 mark in Lone Star Conference play.
 
THE OPPONENT
The #25 Cameron Aggies enter the weekend with an overall record of 24-3 with a 6-1 mark in LSC play to sit atop of the league standings as they took 3-of-4 from Eastern New Mexico last weekend in Portales. The lone Zias win snapped a 17 game win streak by the Aggies, Cameron is currently 8-0 at McMahon Field this season. The Aggies are led by second year head coach Rodney DeLong who led CU to the program's first NCAA Regional Tournament last season, finishing 31-21 overall for the first winning season since 2009 in Lawton. This week marks the first time in program history that the Aggies have been ranked in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top-25 Poll, coming in at number 25.
 
The Aggies are led offensively by Paige Daino who is hitting .435 on the season with eight doubles and 11 homeruns to drive in a team leading 41 RBI with a slugging percentage of .918 while Breezy McComas is hitting .415 with nine doubles and seven homeruns to drive in 26 RBI. In the circle, Cameron is led by Kelsey Watson with a 11-1 overall record and a 1.56 ERA, tossing 10 complete games in 80.2 innings of work with 83 strikeouts and an opponent batting average of .254 on the season.
 
THE SERIES
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series against the Aggies, 19-5 with WT taking four of the five meetings between the two teams last season including a 4-2 win in the LSC Tournament Semifinals in Canyon. The Lady Buffs are 3-0 all-time in Lawton as they swept the Aggies in an LSC series back in 2012 by a combined score of 42-23. This will be WT's first trip to McMahon Field which was built prior to last season.
 
CHASING 700
West Texas A&M head coach Kevin Blaskowski sits just four wins away from career victory number 700 as the 10th year skipper of the Lady Buffs holds an overall career record of 696-494 (.585) in his 23 years of collegiate coaching along with a 344-224 (.606) mark during his time in Canyon. Coach B's 600th career came less than two years ago as the then #2 Lady Buffs took the opening game of a doubleheader (4-14-13) from St. Edward's, 6-2 in Austin, Texas. Blaskowski is a two-time LSC Coach of the Year and the NFCA DII National Coach of the Year in 2014.
 
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Entering the week, LSC teams are 151-91-2 overall this season.  In the NCAA South Central Region, the group is currently 42-20 combined versus Heartland Conference teams and 36-11 against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. 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. The single-elimination championship will be played May 1-2, at the No. 1 seed.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Lady Buffs have gone 16-2 inside of the friendly confines of Schaeffer Park this season to continue their home dominance. WT is 124-21 (.859) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season. 2014 marked the third time in the last four years ('11, '13, '14) that the Lady Buffs hosted NCAA Postseason action in Canyon.
 
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (MAR. 25)
A pair of WT losses along with a Valdosta State 19 game winning streak dropped the Lady Buffs from the top spot for the first time in a record 56 straight weeks dating back to February 26, 2014. VSU picked up 11 of the possible 16 first place votes for a total of 395 points with West Texas A&M grabbing the other five first place votes for a total of 388 followed by Missouri-St. Louis (367), Cal State Monterey Bay (367), Dixie State (324), Angelo State (320), Alabama-Huntsville (312), Georgia College (277), North Georgia (270) and St. Mary's (257) to round out the top ten. The South Central Region was represented by second ranked WT, Angelo State (6th), St. Mary's (10th) and Cameron (25th).
 
#CLAUSSTRONG
The Lady Buffs have chosen to play for a something bigger than themselves this season as they join the #ClausStrong campaign for former Lady Buff Amanda Claus and her family. Amanda's father Rick was in a single car accident in Dallas in late December and the father of two has been in a coma ever since. For more info, visit the family's journal at CaringBridge.org. We Are Buff Nation, We Are WT Softball, and We Are #ClausStrong.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The Cameron University Athletic Communications Department will provide live stats and a free webstream for all four games in Lawton this weekend. Fans can also follow the WT Softball Facebook page for updates. For links and more information, visit the Lady Buff Softball schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com.
 
A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE
The Lady Buffs will once again face a tough schedule in 2015 as they look to defend their 2014 NCAA National Championship. The schedule is highlighted by a return trip to the NFCA Leadoff Classic with matchups against East Central, Western Oregon, Colorado Mesa, St. Mary's and Dixie State along with non-conference action against Lubbock Christian and Oklahoma Christian. LSC play will see matchups with four teams that made an NCAA Regional Tournament last year with Angelo State, Texas Woman's, Midwestern State and Cameron while the Lady Buffs topped fellow NCAA Postseason entrant Metro State, 2-0 on Feb. 14th.