DENVER, Colorado – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M ended their 2016 season on Thursday afternoon as they committed five errors and could never recover as they made a late run but fell to the #15 Lady Muleriders of Southern Arkansas, 7-4 in front 647 fans at the Regency Athletics Complex in Denver, Colorado during the 2016 DII Springs Sports Festival. The Lady Buffs close out the season at 59-5 while the Muleriders advance to the National Semifinals as they improve to 53-10.
 
Blaskowski is no stranger to the Lady Muleriders as he started the Southern Arkansas program in 1998 as Coach B registered an overall record of 136-126 in Magnolia as he led SAU to the postseason in each of his five seasons (1998-2002). This year marks the first ever appearance in the DII College World Series for the Lady Muleriders while the Lady Buffs are making their second appearance as they claimed the 2014 NCAA DII National Championship.
 
The Lady Muleriders used a WT error to put their leadoff runner on to start the game followed by a single thru the right side before Brooke Goad doubled to the left center field alley to drive in the game's first run, a groundout to Brittany Gehle at short registered the first out followed by a hit batter to load the bases before Ashton Atwell singled thru the right side to make it 2-0. Kilee Halbert forced a fielder's choice groundout to Shea Ibrahim at third as she gunned down the runner at the plate followed by a popup in foul territory to Ibrahim to end the inning with SAU leading 2-0.
 
SAU continued their hot start at the dish in the second inning as they used another WT error followed by an infield single to start the second, another Lady Buff error loaded the bases with no outs followed by a pair of RBI groundouts to second to make it 4-0. The Lady Buffs registered their first hit of the game on an Ashley Hardin infield single with one out in the second but a fielder's choice groundout to the circle and a popup to first sent the teams to the third with the Lady Muleriders leading 4-0.
 
The Lady Muleriders added to their lead in the top of the fourth inning as Goad connected on her 23^rd homerun of the season with a solo blast to right field with two outs to run the lead to 5-0. The powerful WT offense continued their struggles at the plate as they registered only one hit thru the first four innings of play, Hardin led off the fifth with a double off of the center field wall followed by a pair of groundouts before a Shayne Starkey RBI single to the right center field gap but Kimmy Beasley's fourth strikeout of the afternoon ended the frame with SAU leading 5-1. The Lady Muleriders added to their lead in the top of the sixth inning as Maddie Dow singled up the middle with one out to score a pair and run the lead to 7-1 and knock Halbert from the game, Alexis Alfonso entered and registered a pair of groundouts to end the frame.
 
Gehle led off the home half of the sixth with a single and Andrea Sitter was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs, Ibrahim grounded into a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out followed by a Lacey Taylor RBI double down the right field line to make it 7-2. Hardin doubled to the right center field gap on the first pitch she saw to cut the lead to 7-4 and knock Beasley from the game, Peyton Jenkins entered from the bullpen and registered a big strikeout followed by a groundout to the circle as WT cut the lead to 7-4.
 
The Lady Buffs couldn't find their magic in the seventh that epitomized this year's team as they fell 7-4 to Southern Arkansas. Halbert picked up the loss (27-4) for the Lady Buffs, giving up seven runs (three earned) on eight hits with one walk in her 5.1 innings of work while Alfonso allowed just one hit in the final 1.2 innings.
 
The Lady Buffs end their season with an overall record of 59-5 as they complete one of the best campaigns in program history, claiming their third straight Lone Star Conference Championship along with their second South Central Regional Championship. WT set a new Lone Star Conference record for consecutive wins this season as they began the year a perfect 30-0.