CANYON, Texas – The #2 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M cruised to an opening 12-2 win in five innings on Tuesday afternoon as WT head coach Kevin Blaskowski picked up his 700^th career victory but the Lady Chaps of Lubbock Christian wouldn't go down easily as they took a 5-0 lead into the sixth inning in the nightcap before WT battled back to send the game into extra innings as Allie Smith singled home Kaisha Dacosin for the walkoff win in the eighth inning to sweep non-conference doubleheader action in front of over 200 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs move to 29-6 overall with the wins while Lubbock Christian falls to 24-9 on the season.
 
"What a day, 700 wins over 23 years seems unreal. I'm blessed to be able to come to work every day to coach and work with some of the best student-athletes and people in the country, the energy at Schaeffer Park was electric tonight and our kids fed off of that late in the nightcap" said Blaskowski "We knew that we didn't play well early in game two but slowly we made a few adjustments and got the momentum back, Renee's big bases loaded single and Allie's walkoff hit are the moments you look at back at later in the year as turning points. Now we're really excited to host Kingsville on Friday and Saturday for Military Appreciation Weekend, our kids look forward to this weekend every year when we get to honor those that fight for our freedom."
 
Blaskowski becomes the 32^nd head coach in NCAA Division II history with 700 career wins and the 14^th active coach to reach the milestone, the 10^th year skipper of the Lady Buffs moves his overall career record to 349-225 (.608) during his time in Canyon and 701-495 (.586) overall during his 23 years of collegiate coaching. Number 700 comes less than two years after Coach B's 600 career victory 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 Lady Buffs return to Lone Star Conference action this weekend as they host the Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville in a four-game series during Military Appreciation Weekend as we honor the past, present and future of our Armed Forces. The series starts on Friday night with first pitch of a doubleheader set for 5 p.m. at Schaeffer Park followed by the final two games on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
Game #1
#2 West Texas A&M 12, Lubbock Christian 2 (5 Innings)
 
The Lady Chaps threatened in the top of the first inning as they registered two base hits to put runners on the corners with no outs before Kilee Halbert got out of the jam herself with a pair of strikeouts followed by a ground ball to Stacey Ramirez at shortstop to flipped to the bag at second to end the inning with the Lady Buffs coming to bat. WT took the lead in the home half of the first inning as LCU handed out three straight walks to start off the game followed by a Kaisha Dacosin two RBI single thru the left side to score Ramirez and Brittany Gehle with no outs. Lacey Taylor walked on a full count offering followed by an Allie Smith RBI walk, the Lady Buffs weren't done yet as Ashley Hardin drove in a run with a fielder's choice ground ball to shortstop followed by a double steal that allowed Taylor to score from third base for the early 5-0 lead.
 
Erwin continued to make her case for Lone Star Conference Player of the Year as the senior outfielder connected on her fifth homerun in her last seven official at-bats with a two run homerun over the right center field fence to drive in Gehle who reached earlier in the inning via a bunt single with one out to extend the WT lead to 7-0 after two complete innings of play. The Lady Chaps plated their first run of the game in the top of the third inning with a bloop single to left center field with two outs by Jessica Loiacano to cut the lead to 7-1.
 
The Lady Buffs added to their lead in the home half of the third inning as Ramirez singled up the middle with runners on first and second as Ashley Hardin came around to score followed by a Gehle sacrifice fly to center field that allowed two runs to score as Wilkinson scored easily on the sac fly while Ramirez was sent home due to an obstruction call as the junior rounded third and collided with LCU's third baseman to extend the lead to 10-1 after three innings of play. LCU cut into the lead again in the top of the fourth inning as Ashton Bell sent a Halbert offering over the left center field wall to make the score 10-2.
 
WT added to their lead again in the bottom of the fourth inning as Andrea Sitter grounded out to shortstop for the fielder's choice RBI followed by a groundout by Ramirez that plated Bailey Anderson from third base to extend their lead to 12-2 headed to the top of the fifth inning. Halbert would close out the game with three straight ground balls to Dacosin at third base to give the Lady Buffs the 12-2 victory and Coach B his 700^th career win. Halbert tossed her second complete game in as many starts as the freshman moved to 4-0 in the circle, giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts on the afternoon.
 
Game #2
#2 West Texas A&M 7, Lubbock Christian 6 (8 Innings)
 
The Lady Chaps came out swinging in the nightcap as they used three straight singles to plate their first run of the game with an RBI single to left center by Sammie Murrietta, WT got the first out of the game on a fielder's choice groundout to Dacosin who cut down the lead runner at the plate followed by a great play at first by Allie Cranfill who snagged a line drive at the bag and stepped on first for the inning-ending double play as LCU took the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first inning. LCU added to their lead in the top of the second inning as a WT fielding error with two outs and two on allowed another Lady Chap to come around and score before Newcomb forced a ground ball back to the circle to end the inning with LCU leading 2-0.
 
Lubbock Christian used the long ball to add to their advantage in the top of the third inning as Murrietta drove in her second RBI of the nightcap with a solo homerun on top of the black monster in left field to leadoff the inning for the 3-0 lead. The Lady Buffs used a leadoff walk by Cranfill in the bottom of the fourth inning followed by a great bunt single that stopped on the first base line to put runners on first and second with no outs, but LCU would get two outs on one swing with a line drive double play to second base followed two batters later by a popup to second base to end the inning with LCU leading 3-0.
 
The Lady Chaps added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning again with two outs as Liz Torres blooped a flare down the right field line just out of Gehle's reach on a diving play to score pinch-runner Jenny Rigney from second base followed two batters later by an Addison Ard RBI single thru the left side with the bases loaded and two outs to give the Lady Chaps to take the 5-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning. WT scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as Allie Smith lifted a ball to right field with a runner on second and two outs as the LCU fielder misplayed the ball to allow Dacosin to score to cut the lead to 5-1.
 
WT wouldn't go down without a fight as Hardin connected on her sixth homerun of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning with a leadoff solo bomb to the deepest part of the park in right center field to cut the lead to 5-2 with no outs. Ramirez singled up the middle two batters later followed by what looked to be the final play of the inning on an Erwin lineout to shortstop by an illegal pitch moved Ramirez to second and Erwin walked two pitches later. The Lady Chaps would end the inning just three pitches later on a strikeout in the heart of the WT order to end the inning with LCU leading 5-2.
 
Rita Hokianga would continue to roll in her second inning of work to start the seventh as the senior left hander registered her third strikeout followed by a check-swing popup to Cranfill at first base for the first two outs of the inning before LCU added to their lead with a solo homerun on a full-count that hit the top of the fence in left center field and bounced over to give LCU the 6-2 lead headed to the bottom of the seventh inning. Taylor singled on a chopper to first to leadoff the bottom of the seventh followed by an LCU error in the outfield to put runners on first and second with no outs, Cranfill singled with a hard liner to the circle to load the bases before LCU forced a strikeout of the first out. Wilkinson was hit by a pitch to drive in a run followed by a Ramirez walk one five pitches to make the score 6-4, Gehle popped up to shallow right field before Erwin tied the game with a two RBI single to center field to tie the game at 6-6 and head to extra innings.
 
The international tie breaker came into effect in the top of the eighth inning as LCU's last out of the seventh was placed on second base to start the frame, the Lady Chaps bunted the runner to third base before Hokianga ended the inning as the senior forced a lineout to Hardin in left and a fly ball to Erwin in right to strand the runner 60 feet away and head to the home half of the eighth. Dacosin started the bottom of the eight on second base followed by a great sacrifice bunt by Taylor, the Lady Buffs would end the game just five pitches later as Smith shot a single thru the right side to score Dacosin and give the Lady Buffs the 7-6 win. It marked the second walkoff hit of the season and career for Smith, who launched a double off of the wall against then #3 Dixie State during the finale of the NFCA Division II Leadoff Classic in early February in Tucson, Arizona. Hokianga picked up the win in the circle (12-4) for the Lady Buffs, giving up one run (earned) on two hits with no walks and four strikeouts in the final three innings of play.