WICHITA FALLS, Texas –West Texas A&M senior catcher Lacey Taylor proved why she is one of the best players in Division II Softball on Saturday night as the Byers, Texas native launched an extra inning grand slam the opposite way in the Lone Star Conference series finale to give the top ranked Lady Buffs an LSC sweep over the rival Mustangs of Midwestern State. The Lady Buffs continue their best start to a season in program history with a mark of 24-0 (8-0 LSC) while the Mustangs fall to 15-13 (3-5 LSC) on the season.
 
The Lady Buffs continue Lone Star Conference action next weekend as they host the rival Rambelles of Angelo State with action starting on Friday night at 5 p.m. at Schaeffer Park. The Belles enter the weekend with an overall mark of 18-5 (7-1 LSC) on the season, following a series win over Eastern New Mexico.
 
GAME #1
The top ranked Lady Buffs took their first lead of the game in the top of the third inning as Briana Garza registered a pinch-hit bases loaded walk with two outs as Shayne Starkey scored followed by a Taylor two-run double to left field to give the Lady Buffs the 3-0 lead. The Stangs responded in the home half of the frame as Taylor Bermuses took WT's Kilee Halbert deep to center field to cut the lead to 3-1.
 
WT added to their lead in the top of the sixth inning with one out as Kourtney Coveney singled to center field to score Ashley Hardin and run the WT lead to 4-1. MSU wouldn't go down without a fight as Baylee Voigt doubled down the left field line to drive in two runs followed by a Makenzi Harris fielder's-choice groundout to cut the lead to 4-2. The Lady Buffs would put the game away in the top of the sixth inning as Taylor singled to left field with no outs to score Brittany Gehle followed by an Allie Smith RBI double to the left center field gap to run the WT lead to 6-3.
 
That's all of the lead the WT sophomore Kilee Halbert (10-0) would need as the Dalhart native allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and six strikeout in her 5.0 innings of work while Tori Bayer picked up her third save of the season as the senior allowed no runs on no hits with no walks and on strikeout in the last 2.0 innings of play.
 
GAME #2
The Mustangs registered their first lead of the series in the home half of the first inning as a Katelynn Vinson solo bomb to left field gave the Stangs the early 1-0 led, the Lady Buffs responded in the top of the second inning as Hardin registered her team-leading ninth long ball of the season to score Taylor as WT took the 2-1 lead.  The Mustangs responded in the home half of the third with a Bermudes RBI single with two outs to tie the game at 2-2,
 
WT's Brittany Gehle registered another big-game moment as the senior connected with solo shot to left field with one out in the top of the seventh to give the Lady Buffs the 3-2 lead. Bayer entered from the pen again as the senior stranded runners on second and third with one out as the Floresvile native registered back-to-back strikeouts to end regulation, 3-3.
 
WT's senior backbone would propel the Lady Buffs to victory in the eighth inning as the Byers native took a Peyton Helton offering deep the opposite way for a grand slam to put WT ahead 7-3 headed to the home half of eighth. That's all the lead the Bayer would need as the senior picked up the win (6-0) for the Lady Buffs, giving up no runs on two hits with three walks and three strikeouts in her 2.0 innings of relief.
 
Taylor made her homecoming mark less than 30 miles from her hometown of Byers as the LSC Preseason Player of the Year registered the first homerun on the new artificial turf of Mustang Park while ending her regular-season career in Wichita Falls with a grand slam to left field to keep the Lady Buffs unbeaten at 24-0.