CANYON, Texas – The #22 Lady Buff of West Texas A&M trailed 5-2 heading into the sixth inning before an 11-run explosion highlighted by a two-run Brittany Cruz homerun kept the Lady Buff unbeaten with a 12-7 win in front of over 400 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs improve to 9-0 overall while the Roadrunners fall to 3-7 on the season.
 
The teams traded zeroes in the first inning before Alexis Alfonso struck out two Roadrunners in the top of the second inning followed by a groundout to the circle as WT came to bat in the home half of the second tied 0-0. WT struck first as Ashley Hardin bombed a 1-0 offering to left field for a leadoff homerun followed later in the inning with a Shayne Starkey double to the right center field gap, Kourtney Coveney walked followed by a Brittany Cruz RBI single to left field to run the Lady Buff lead to 2-0.
 
The Roadrunners took the lead in the top of the third inning as Hayley Fields doubled to deep center field to score a run followed by a Lady Buff fielding error that led to a two run single up the middle by Carissa Terry to knock Alfonso from the game, Tori Bayer entered to register the second out of the inning with a strikeout followed by a groundout to Brittany Gehle at second to end the inning with MSUD leading 3-2.
 
Bayer continued to roll in the fourth as the Floresville native registered three strikeouts in the inning including an eight-pitch at bat as the Roadrunners stranded a runner to head into the bottom of the fourth with Metro leading 3-2. Metro State added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning as Fields struck again with a leadoff solo bomb to left center field before Bayer responded as the senior ran her strikeout total to six as Metro stranded a runner at third base heading into the fifth at 4-2. Metro added to their lead in the top of the sixth inning with a Colissa Bakovich solo homerun down the right field line with two outs to make it 5-2.
 
Starkey started off the home half of the sixth with a single to right followed by a Coveney shot thru the left side before a Brittany Cruz single to left field to score Starkey at 5-3, the Roadrunners forced a groundout to third for the first out of the inning followed by a Gehle infield single to score Coveney and cut the lead to 5-4. Gehle stole second to put runners at second and third followed by a popup for the second out before Lacey Taylor walked on four pitches to load the bases, Hardin added to her RBI total with a two run single to center field followed by an Allie Smith RBI single to center with a Metro error. WT wasn't done yet as Starkey singled thru the left side to score pinch-runner Tiffanie Bolanos from second followed by a Coveney RBI double to left center before Cruz added to the WT lead with a two-run bomb over the black monster in left field to stretch the WT lead to 12-5.
 
Bayer picked up the win in the circle (3-0) as the senior gave up two runs on six hits with one walk and a season high eight strikeouts in her 4.2 inning of relief. The Lady Buffs conclude the WT Invitational against the Adams State Grizzlies at 4 p.m. at Schaeffer Park.