CANYON, Texas – The #22 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M trailed 6-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning before exploding for six runs highlighted by a
Brittany Gehle two-out grand slam as WT rolled from there to a 15-7 run-rule win over the #12 Rattlers of St. Mary's in front of over 500 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. The Lady Buffs remain unbeaten as they move to 8-0 overall while the Rattlers fall to 8-4 in a matchup of the last two South Central Region representatives in the DII College World Series.
The Rattlers looked to score first as they loaded the bases with three straight infield singles with one out followed by a Jennifer Hernandez full-count walk to drive in the game's first run, Olivia Van Hook singled to right field to drive in another run but
Brittany Cruz gunned down another possible Rattler run at the plate followed by a
Kilee Halbert strikeout with St. Mary's leading 2-0.
The Lady Buffs responded in the bottom of the first inning as
Shea Ibrahim doubled to the left center field gap with two outs followed by a full-count double to the same spot by
Lacey Taylor as the senior catcher sat on an off-speed pitch and drove it to the gap to cut the Rattler lead to 2-1. St. Mary's added to their lead in the top of the second as Hannah Michel singled thru the right side to score Kristal Salinas with two outs before a groundout to
Brittany Gehle at second as the Rattlers took a 3-1 lead.
The Rattlers added to their lead again in the top of the third inning as Van Hook took a ball deep over the center field fence to knock Halbert from the game,
Tori Bayer entered and registered two quick outs as St. Mary's took a 4-1 lead into the home half of the third. The Rattlers added to their lead in the fourth with a bases loaded walk with one out followed by an infield popup before a Van Hook RBI single to center field to run the lead to 6-1.
The Lady Buffs loaded the bases with one out in the home half of the fourth followed by
Kourtney Coveney being hit by a pitch to score
Ashley Hardin from third and make it 6-2, Cruz flied out to right field to score
Shayne Starkey from third base followed by an
Allie Smith pinch-hit walk to load the bases again as
Brittany Gehle worked a full count before blasting a 3-2 pitch into the new Buff Coral in left center field to erupt the Schaeffer Park crowd and give the Lady Buffs the 7-6 lead. The Rattlers tied the game again in the top of the fifth with an infield groundout to score Salinas from third at 7-7.
WT put the game away in the bottom of the fourth inning as they scored seven runs on five hits with one Rattler error as
Kylee Moore singled to right followed by a Coveney walk before Cruz doubled off of the right field wall to score Coveneny and pinch-runner
Tiffanie Bolanos to make it 9-7.
Stacey Ramirez singled to left to score Cruz as the senior advanced to third on a throwing error followed by a Gehle walk before Ibrahim sent a 1-2 offering deep to center field followed three pitches later by a Taylor solo bomb to run the WT lead to 14-7. The Lady Buffs ended the game in the home half of the sixth as Cruz laced another double to right field to score pinch-runner
Alyssa Montoya from second base for the 15-7 win.
Bayer picked up the win (2-0) in the circle for the Lady Buffs as the Floresville native capped off another strong relief outing as the senior allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts in her 3.2 innings of relief.
The Lady Buffs begin the final day of the WT Invitational tomorrow afternoon at 12:45 p.m. against Metro State followed their weekend finale against Adams State at 3 p.m. at Schaeffer Park in Canyon.
