CANYON, Texas – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M used a seventh inning homerun by freshman outfielder Brittany Cruz to claim their second NCAA Division II South Central Super Regional Title on Thursday night with a 3-1 win over the #9 Rattlers of St. Mary's in front of over 600 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs continue their dream season with an overall record of 58-3 while the Rattlers end their campaign at 47-13.
 
Brittany Gehle wasted little time sparking the WT offense as the senior started her final career game at Schaeffer Park with a single to center field on an 0-2 offering, Andrea Sitter followed by a bunt single to third base but Gehle was throw at third trying to advance before Shea Ibrahim singled to the warning track in center field. The Rattlers responded with a strikeout before Ashley Hardin walked to load the bases followed by an Allie Smith RBI walk for the game's first run to give WT the 1-0 lead.
 
The Rattlers registered their first hit of the game with one out in the home half of the second inning as Marcy Vasquez doubled to left field before Kilee Halbert forced a pair of groundouts to strand the runner at third headed to the third inning. Sitter reached on an STMU error to start the third followed by an Ibrahim sac bunt to move the senior up 60 feet, the Rattlers answered with Hope Russell's third strikeout of the game followed by a fly out to right field as WT held onto the 1-0 lead.
 
Sydney Wellmann was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the fourth followed by a dribbler thru the left side by Raynelle Nash before Vasquez layed down the sac bunt to move the runners up 60 feet, the WT defense made a great play as Kourtney Coveney fielded a ground ball and fired to Lacey Taylor for an out at the dish followed by a popup to Shayne Starkey in foul territory in front of the first base dugout to keep the score at 1-0.
 
The Rattlers started off the second straight inning with a hit-by-pitch as Olivia Van Hook was plunked on the second pitch of the at-bat followed by a Hannah Fields bunt single in front of the plate as Van Hook moved up to third with no outs, Tori Bayer entered the game and forced a first-pitch popup to Starkey down the line followed by a ground ball to Ibrahim at third to hold the runner followed by a fly ball to center to end the threat with WT leading 1-0.
 
The Lady Buffs put the game away in the top of the seventh inning as Starkey led off the inning with a single to right field before Brittany Cruz launched a two-run blast to straight away center field off of the net protecting the scoreboard to make it 3-0. The Rattlers wouldn't do down without a fight as Miranda Medina took a 3-1 offering deep to left center field for a leadoff solo homerun before the nation's save leader registered three straight outs for the South Central Super Regional Championship, 3-1.
 
Halbert picked the win (25-2) for the Lady Buffs in the circle, giving up no runs on four hits with no walks and a strikeout in her 4.0 innings of work while Bayer registered her 12^th save of the season and the 17^th one of her career to set a new program record for a career as the senior allowed just one run on one hit with no walks and two strikeouts in the final 3.0 innings of work.