CANYON, Texas – The #22 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M opened up their 2016 home schedule in style on Friday afternoon as they hit four homeruns and scored 14 runs in the fourth inning on their way to a rout of the Fort Lewis Skyhawks, 25-1 in a five inning run-rule in front of over 400 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. The Lady Bufffs move to 6-0 on the season while Fort Lewis falls to 2-5. WT honored former All-American
Renee Erwin in a pregame ceremony as her #34 jersey was honored on the center field wall alongside Alyssa Lemos and
Kim LeComte.
The Skyhawks started off the scoring in the top of the first inning as Nikki Klepfer singled home Adriana Rosthenhausler for the early 1-0 lead. It would be all Lady Buffs from there as the two-time defending Lone Star Conference Champions scored 25 runs (22 earned) on 19 hits with four homeruns and three doubles for the 25-1 win.
WT started off their scoring in the bottom of the second inning with eight runs on six hits with one Skyhawk error as
Kourtney Coveney and
Brittany Cruz drove in runs followed later in the inning by a
Lacey Taylor two run double and an
Allie Smith three run bomb on top of the batting cages in left field for the 8-1 lead.
The Lady Buffs added to their lead in the home half of the third as
Shea Ibrahim drove in Coveney with a Fort Lewis error followed later in the frame by an
Ashley Hardin RBI single to left field to run the lead to 11-1. WT exploded in the fourth as they scored 14 runs on eight hits with one error as Coveney hit her first collegiate homerun followed later in the frame by a
Brittany Gehle bomb and a
Briana Garza grand slam giving the San Antonio native her first career homerun.
Kilee Halbert picked up the win (3-0) in the circle for the Lady Buffs, giving up one run on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts for her third complete game win of the season.
The Lady Buffs return to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on Chadron State (2:30 p.m.) and #12 St. Mary's (4:45 p.m.) at Schaeffer Park inside of the Buffalo Sports Park.
