CANYON, Texas – The #1 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M began the defense of their Lone Star Conference Championship in style on Saturday afternoon as they completed the sweep of the rival Mustangs of Midwestern State with a pair of run-rule victories as WT outscored MSU 47-5 over the weekend at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs move to 17-2 (4-0 LSC) on the season while the Mustangs fall to 13-7 (0-4 LSC) with the losses.
"I can't tell you how proud I am to be the head coach of this team after a weekend like that, our kids came out and competed in all four games and played their hearts out for the best home crowd in the country" said WT head coach
Kevin Blaskowski "Rita came out and tossed a pair of great games and Hannah/Tori were solid in the circle, offensively we really stuck to our approach and philosophy at the plate and that's when good things usually happen."
The Lady Buffs return to Lone Star Conference play next weekend as they head to San Angelo, Texas for a four-game series against the rival #6 Belles of Angelo State starting on Friday night with doubleheader action at Mayer Field followed by the final two games on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
Game #1#1 West Texas A&M 9, Midwestern State 1 (F/5 Innings)
The Lady Buffs continued to stay hot at the plate in the opener as
Tyler Wilkinson started off the game with a four pitch walk followed by
Stacey Ramirez being hit by a pitch, Wilkinson moved up 60 feet on a lineout to right field followed by a
Kaisha Dacosin sacrifice fly to center field. WT would add another run in the frame via a Mustang fielding error with two outs as Ramirez scored from first base on a dropped pop-up behind second base for the early 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs responded immediately as they used a Katy Vandewate solo homerun over the black monster in left field to leadoff the top of the second inning but
Rita Hokianga responded with three straights outs including her first strikeout of the game as WT continued to hold the 2-1 lead. MSU threatened in the top of the third inning as they put runners on the corners with two outs before Hokianga responded as the senior lefty forced a flyout to
Renee Erwin in right on a full count offering to end the frame with WT leading 2-1.
WT added to their lead in the bottom of the third inning as Ramirez walked to start the frame followed by an Erwin RBI double to right center field, Dacosin walked followed by a Taylor perfectly placed bunt single to load the bases with no outs.
Allie Smith lofted a ball to straight away center field for the sacrifice fly followed by an
Allie Cranfill two run triple off of the left center field wall to make it 6-1 with one out.
Ashley Hardin continued the inning with an RBI double to the left center field gap to plate Cranfill, Wilkinson drove in another run two batters later with an RBI fielder's choice groundout to second base as Hardin crossed the plate for the 8-1 lead.
The Lady Buffs weren't done yet as they added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning as Taylor continued her hot streak at the plate as she doubled off of the center field wall to score Erwin from second base to stretch the WT lead to 9-1 headed to the fifth inning. Hokianga ended the game in style during the top of the fifth as she forced a pair of strikeouts followed by a flyout to Hardin in left to end the game. Hokianga moved to 7-2 on the season, giving up one run four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in the complete game victory.
Game #2 #1 West Texas A&M 9, Midwestern State 1 (F/5 Innings)
The Lady Buffs continued to click at the dish in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap as they scored in the first inning for the seventh straight contest as Dacosin brought the crowd at Schaeffer Park to their feet with a three run blast to left center field with one out to give WT the early 3-0 lead. WT added to their lead in the bottom of the second inning as a Ramirez drag bunt turned into a single and an error plated another Lady Buff run to stretch the lead to 4-0 after two complete innings of play.
The Mustangs used the long ball to their advantage in the top of the third inning as Katelyn Vinson launched a solo homerun over the left center field fence with one out, MSU used a five-pitch walk to put a runner on first base with one out before
Hannah Newcomb responded with a strikeout before her fifth walk of the game forced Blaskowski to make a move to the bullpen to bring in
Tori Bayer. Bayer entered and did her job as she forced a strikeout on a full-count in the heart of the Mustangs order to end the inning with WT leading 4-1.
The Lady Buffs added to their lead in the bottom of the third inning as Ramirez singled up the middle with the bases loaded and one out to score a pair of runs followed by a head-up play by Wilkinson on the basepath as she tagged up and scored from second base on a sacrifice fly to right field by Erwin followed by a Dacosin RBI single up the middle to stretch their lead to 8-1 headed to the fourth inning. WT wasn't done yet as Cranfill tripled down the right field line with one out in the bottom of the fourth followed by a Hardin RBI triple off of the right center field wall to stretch the lead to 9-1 headed to the fifth inning.
Bayer picked up the win in the circle (5-0) as she gave up no runs on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts in her 2.1 innings of work while Newcomb finished the game giving up one run on two hits with five walks and one strikeout in her 2.1 innings.
