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CANYON, Texas – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M will look to stay atop of the Lone Star Conference standings this weekend as they host the Cameron Aggies during Military Appreciation Weekend at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. The four-game series begins on Friday night with doubleheader action set for 5 p.m. followed by the final two contests on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
CAMERONThe Aggies enter the weekend with an overall record of 24-9 with a 9-3 mark in Lone Star Conference play to sit in a tie for second place following a sweep of Eastern New Mexico last weekend in Lawton.
Cameron is led by second year head coach Rodney DeLong who has led the Aggies to back-to-back NCAA South Central Regional Tournaments. CU posted a program record 41 wins last season.
The Aggies are led offensively by Breezy McComas who is hitting .462 this season with nine doubles and nine homeruns to drive in 34 RBI to tie for the team lead with Sonora Zukerman. In the circle, Cameron is led by Emily Wasinger who is 13-2 on the season with a 2.35 ERA with 12 complete games and 58 strikeouts in her 95.1 innings of work so far this season.
CU is hitting .336 as a team to go along with 59 doubles, one triples, 35 homeruns and 205 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .435 with 37 combined errors for a fielding clip of .962. In the circle, Cameron has a 3.57 combined ERA with 19 complete games and seven shutouts with 103 strikeouts in 212 innings with an opposing batting average of .285.
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (MAR. 23)The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs remained atop of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top-25 Poll announced on Wednesday morning by the association's offices in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Lady Buffs picked up 12 of the possible 16 first place votes for a total of 396 points followed by Indianapolis (4 first place, 388), Humboldt State (360), Arkansas Tech (344), North Alabama (344), Missouri-St. Louis (314), Saint Leo (307), North Georgia (282), St. Mary's (275) and Alabama-Huntsville (260) to round out the top ten. The South Central Region was represented by WT, St. Mary's (9th), Texas Woman's (23rd) and Angelo State (RV).
LSC PITCHER OF THE WEEKWT senior
Tori Bayer has been named the Lone Star Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week announced on Wednesday afternoon by the league's offices in Richardson, Texas.
Bayer continued to roll this past week as the right hander went 2-0 with a pair of saves as the top ranked Lady Buffs moved to 33-1 (15-1 LSC) to remain atop of the LSC standings. The Floresville, Texas native picked up both wins on Sunday afternoon to clinch the series over Texas A&M-Commerce while registering a pair of saves on the week. Bayer leads the Lone Star Conference in saves this season with six, she registered a 0.60 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 11.2 innings of work while allowing just one run and an opposing batting average of .250 last week in her four appearances.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING (MAR. 21)The Lady Buffs have the nation's second best offense with a .374 team batting average while leading the nation with 9.06 runs per game, 2.24 doubles per game and .483 on base percentage.
– WT ranks second with a team slugging percentage of .641 while coming in third with 1.41 homeruns per contest.
– Freshman outfielder
Kourtney Coveney is 29th in the country with a batting average of .463 while senior
Stacey Ramirez ranks 19th in runs per game (1.21). Fellow senior
Tori Bayer is third in the nation in saves this season with six.
– Sophomore outfielder
Ashley Hardin leads the Lady Buffs with 11 home runs which ranks sixth in the nation. WT has three players in the Top-25 in RBI this season with Hardin (13th, 39),
Lacey Taylor (19th, 37) and
Brittany Cruz (23rd, 34).
A LOOK BACK (TAMUC SERIES)The Lady Buffs remain atop of the Lone Star Conference standings as they took three of four game at Texas A&M-Commerce. WT hit .299 as a team lat week with 13 doubles and three homeruns to drive in 29 RBI for a slugging clip of .424 with 27 walks in the six games for an on-base percentage of .406.
Allie Smith led the way with a .500 batting average on the week with a homerun and four RBI while
Ashley Hardin drove in a team leading nine RBI with three doubles and a homerun. In the circle,
Tori Bayer continued to roll as the senior went 2-0 with a pair of saves with a 0.60 ERA, striking out 11 batters in 11.2 innings of work while allowing just one run.
TRADITION NEVER GRADUATESThe Lady Buffs return nine letter-winners from last season's LSC Championship team that registered an overall record of 45-11, All-American selections
Lacey Taylor,
Stacey Ramirez and
Allie Smith highlight the talented returning group that have led WT to back-to-back LSC Titles. Taylor and Ramirez are joined by
Brittany Gehle,
Tori Bayer and
Andrea Sitter for a senior class that looks to become the winningest in program history as they have registered a 149-31 (82.8%) mark over the last three seasons in Canyon.
HOME SWEET HOMEThe Lady Buffs have turned Schaeffer Park in Canyon into one of the top home environments in all of NCAA Division II Softball. WT is 160-26 (.860) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season including 64-12 (.842) during regular season Lone Star Conference games in Canyon. 2015 marked the fourth time in the last five years ('11, '13, '14, '15) that the Lady Buffs hosted NCAA Postseason action in Canyon.
LIVE COVERAGEThe West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations Department will provide live stats and a webstream for all games this weekend. Fans can also follow the WT Athletics (@WTAthletics) Twitter account for live updates during all games. For links and more information, visit the Lady Buff Softball schedule page.
MAKING HISTORYThe Lady Buffs became the fastest team in Division II to reach the 30-win plateau this season while becoming just be 19th team in DII History to register a win streak of atleast 30 games as they are tied for 10th with Sacred Heart (1990) and Kennesaw State (1999). The 30-game win streak is the longest in Lone Star Conference history and the longest ever in the current South Central Region (Lone Star, Heartland, RMAC).
