CANYON, Texas – The #3 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M overcame adversity on Saturday night as they showed heart in the final three innings of play to battle back from a 4-1 deficit to outlast the rival Belles of Angelo State in a nine inning thriller in front of almost 500 fans at Schaeffer Park as they Lady Buffs kept their 2015 season alive. The Lady Buffs move to 45-10 on the season while the Belles end their campaign at 33-17-1.
 
The teams traded zeroes in the first inning before the Belles threatened in the second with a leadoff walk to Kenedy Urbany followed by a Tina Cisneros single up the middle, ASU moved the runners up 60 feet with a sacrifice bunt for the first out followed by an Rachel Moore sacrifice fly to left field to score Urbany from third before Kilee Halbert registered her second strikeout of the game to end the inning with ASU leading 1-0.
 
The Lady Buffs looked to tie the game in the home half of the second as Lacey Taylor singled to center field with one out for WT's first hit followed two later by a hit-by-pitch to Allie Cranfill to put runners on first and second with two outs, ASU's Brandy Marlett closed the door as she used just four pitches to register her fifth strikeout of the game with the Belles leading 1-0. Halbert would keep the crowd in the game in the top of the third inning as the freshman right hander from Dalhart needed just nine pitches to register three outs including her third strikeout of the afternoon to keep the game at 1-0.
 
WT tied the game in the home half of the third inning as senior leadership took over when Tyler Wilkinson made a heads up play on the basepaths as she went from first to home on a bunt single by Renee Erwin with one out that rolled down the first base line and kicked off of the base into foul territory as the Lady Buffs tied the game at 1-1 after three complete innings of play. ASU looked to take the lead right back as Megan Granado tripled to right center field to leadoff the inning before Halbert tossed a pair of groundballs followed by her fourth strikeout to send the teams to the bottom of the fourth tied at 1-1.
 
The game also showed great defense as the Belles looked to put their leadoff batter of the sixth inning on base with a would-be Granado single to center field but Stacey Ramirez made a great diving play up the middle for the first out before Halbert handed out a walk to Urbany and hit Tina Cisneros with a pitch as Blaskowski made a move to the bullpen with the freshman leaving to a standing ovation from the Schaeffer Park crowd. Tori Bayer entered and handed out a full count walk to load the bases with one out followed by another walk to allow the leading run to cross the plate, Bayer continued to struggle finding the zone as WT was forced to go to the bullpen on a 2-0 count as Rita Hokianga entered the game. Angelo countered with a pinch hitter to face Hokianga and another walk plated another ASU run before the senior registered a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning with the Belles leading 3-1.
 
The Belles would add to their lead in the top of the seventh inning as Micherie Koria singled to left field followed by a stolen base and a passed ball to move her to third base with one out, Urbany grounded out to Brittany Gehle at second base to score Koria from third base to make it 4-1 with two outs. There was a sudden stoppage in the game as WT's Renee Erwin was carted off the field by stretcher in a lengthy delay, the Lady Buffs composed themselves and made a comeback as Gehle singled home Ashley Hardin following a triple off of the right center field wall followed by a Hannah Limmer walk to load the bases and a Dacosin game-tying double to the right center field gap on a 2-2 offering to tie the game at 4-4.
 
The teams would head to extra innings and trade zeroes in the eighth before Angelo State came up with the big swing as Cisneros took a 1-0 Hokianga offering over the left center field fence with two outs to give the Rambelles the 6-4 lead. The Lady Buffs wouldn't go down without a fight as Gehle led off the bottom of the ninth as she reached on an error followed by a Ramirez full count walk to put runners on first and second with no outs, Wilkinson flew out to center field as Gehle moved up to second base before Urbany registered a strikeout for the second out. Dacosin provided the heroics again in the bottom of the ninth as the senior doubled down the right field line to tie the game and would eventually score the winning run as the ASU catcher dropped the ball on a play at the plate as the Lady Buffs the 7-6 thrilling win.
 
Hokianga picked up the win (20-6) for the Lady Buffs, giving up three runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts in the final 3.2 innings while Halbert tossed a great game for WT as the freshman gave up three runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts in the first 5.1 innings of play.