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CANYON, Texas – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M close out the regular season this weekend on the road as they head to Denton, Texas for a Lone Star Conference showdown with the Pioneers of Texas Woman's beginning on Friday night at 5 p.m. at Pioneer Field.
TEXAS WOMAN'S
The Pioneers enter the weekend with an overall record of 31-17 with a 19-9 mark in Lone Star Conference play following a series win over Eastern New Mexico last weekend in Portales.
Texas Woman's is led by third year head coach Genny Stidham who came to Denton in the Fall of 2014 following a 16-year stint at Central Oklahoma including a run to the 2013 DII National Championship.
The Pioneers are led offensively by Tealey Farquar who is hitting .455 this season with seven doubles and a triple to drive in 29 RBI. In the circle, TWU is led by Tori Bice who is 17-9 on the season with a 3.45 ERA with 13 complete games and one shutouts to go along with 93 strikeouts in her 152.0 innings of work so far this season.
TWU is hitting .328 as a team to go along with 62 doubles, 13 triples, 12 homeruns and 232 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .421 with 51 combined errors for a fielding clip of .962. In the circle, TWU has a 4.07 combined ERA with 16 complete games and 171 strikeouts in 315.0 innings with an opposing batting average of .276.
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (APR. 20)
The Lone Star Conference Champion Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M jumped back to the top of the newest 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 (3 first place, 384), Humboldt State (1 first place, 370), North Alabama (345), North Georgia (343), Missouri-St. Louis (299), Saint Leo (296), Arkansas Tech (288), California, Pa. (269) and St. Mary's (263) to round out the top ten. The South Central Region was represented by WT, St. Mary's (10th), Colorado Mesa (18th) and Cameron (RV).
3-PEAT
The #2 Lady Buffs claimed their third straight Lone Star Conference title as they outscored the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico, 40-8 in a Senior Weekend series sweep at Schaeffer Park to move WT to 44-2 (26-2 LSC). The Lady Buffs became the third team in LSC history to win three straight titles along with Southeastern Oklahoma (1999-01) and Angelo State (2008-10).
WT has earned the right to host the Lone Star Conference Championship on April 29-30, they will be the top seed in the event and receive a bye in the quarterfinal round and play the winner of the 4/5 seed game in the semifinals on Friday night at a time to be determined.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING (APR. 17)
The Lady Buffs have the nation's best offense with a .375 team batting average while leading the nation with 2.40 doubles per game, a .477 on base percentage while scoring 8.94 runs per contest.
– WT ranks first in slugging percentage (.639) while coming in fith with 1.34 homeruns per game and ranking first in win/loss percentage at .957.
– Senior
Stacey Ramirez ranks 30th in the country in batting average (.442) and eighth in runs per game (1.19). Fellow senior
Tori Bayer leads Division II in saves this season with nine while
Lacey Taylor ranks eighth in on-base percentage (.558) and eighth in walks per game (0.79).
– Sophomore outfielder
Ashley Hardin leads the Lady Buffs with 14 home runs which ranks 13th in the nation. WT has three players in the Top-50 in RBI this season with Hardin (10th, 54),
Brittany Cruz (15th, 54) and Taylor (26th, 47).
A LOOK BACK (LCU RECAP)
The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M used a complete game shutout by
Kilee Halbert and three big homeruns to cruise past the Lady Chaps of Lubbock Christian, 7-0 at PlainsCapital Park in Lubbock, Texas on Wednesday afternoon in WT's final non-conference game of the season. The Lady Buffs hand LCU their first home loss of the season to move to 46-2 overall while LCU falls to 39-21 with the loss.
TRADITION NEVER GRADUATES
The 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 HOME
The Lady Buffs have turned Schaeffer Park in Canyon into one of the top home environments in all of NCAA Division II Softball. WT is 168-27 (.860) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season including 71-13 (.845) 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 COVERAGE
The Texas Woman's Athletic Communications Department will provide live stats and video for this weekend's series in Denton. 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 HISTORY
The Lady Buffs became the fastest team in Division II to reach the 40-win plateau this season while becoming just be 19th team in Division II 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).
