WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M used a
Kilee Halbert one-hit shutout and a five-run inning to race past the rival Mustangs of Midwestern State in a Lone Star Conference doubleheader sweep on Friday night at Mustang Park in Wichita, Falls, Texas. The Lady Buffs continue their best start to a season in program history as they move to 22-0 (6-0 LSC) while the Mustangs fall to 15-11 (3-3 LSC) in their home opener on a new artificial surface at Mustang Park.
The Lady Buffs return to action tomorrow afternoon as they look to take the series with a doubleheader set for 2 p.m. in Wichita Falls.
GAME #1The Lady Buffs started off the scoring in the top of the third inning as
Brittany Gehle reached on an MSU error as
Kourtney Coveney raced around to score followed by a
Shea Ibrahim RBI single and an
Ashley Hardin two-run double to the right center field gap to run the lead to 4-0. WT took advantage of another Mustang error in the fourth as a wild pitch and errant throw allowed Coveney and
Brittany Cruz at 6-0.
WT would use the long ball to put the game away in the top of the fifth inning as senior catcher
Lacey Taylor launched a solo bomb to straight away center field with one out followed two batters later by an
Allie Smith solo shot to left to run the Lady Buff lead to 8-0. That proved to be more than enough cushion for Halbert as the sophomore picked up the win (9-0), giving up no runs on one hit with one walk and five strikeouts in the complete game shutout.
GAME #2WT took a commanding 5-0 lead in the top of the second inning as reigning NFCA DII National Player of the Week
Shayne Starkey drew a walk with the bases loaded followed by a Coveney sacrifice fly in foul territory down the left field line to score Hardin before Gehle laced a two-out bases clearing double to left field to run the WT lead to 5-0.
The Mustangs answered in the home half of the fourth inning as Taylor Mordeci and Misty Muniz singled home runs with two outs to force WT starter
Chelsea Skipper from the circle, senior
Tori Bayer entered and walked her first batter to load the bases before forcing a fly ball to Coveney in left to end the threat at 5-2. Both teams would strand baserunners in the final two inning but big defensive stops kept the score the same as the Lady Buffs picked up the 5-2 win. Skipper picked up the win (4-0) for the Lady Buffs as the freshman allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in her 3.2 innings of work while Bayer registered her second save of the season, allowing no runs on two hits with four walks and a strikeout in the final 3.1 innings.
