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CANYON, Texas – The #7 Lady Buffs begin the defense of their Lone Star Conference Championship this weekend as they host the Pioneers of Texas Woman's in a three-game LSC series starting on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Schaeffer Park followed by a Saturday doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. in Canyon during Special Olympics Recognition Weekend presented by Tate Prescott & Friends.
 
TEXAS WOMAN'S
The Pioneers enter the weekend with an overall record of 9-7 with a 1-2 mark in Lone Star Conference play following two losses in a three-game series last weekend to Cameron in Denton to open the conference schedule.
 
Texas Woman's is led by fourth 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. TWU has made three straight appearances in the NCAA Postseason under Stidham.
 
The Pioneers are led offensively by Nicole Nordie who is hitting .458 this season with six doubles and a two homeruns to drive in 13 RBI. In the circle, TWU is led by Abby Walker who is 5-3 on the season with a 3.42 ERA with five complete games and two shutouts to go along with 954 strikeouts in her 55.1 innings of work so far this season.
 
TWU is hitting .324 as a team to go along with 22 doubles, one triple, seven homeruns and 72 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .428 with 14 combined errors for a fielding clip of .968. In the circle, TWU has a 4.07 combined ERA with six complete games and 88 strikeouts in 106.2 innings with an opposing batting average of .243.
 
THE SERIES vs. TWU
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series against the Pioneers, 24-22 with WT taking the last six meetings between the two teams. TWU is 12-8 all-time in Canyon including 7-6 at Schaeffer Park with the Lady Buffs taking the last three meetings in Canyon.
 
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (FEB. 22)
National Runner-Up Humboldt State picked up all 16 first place votes for a unamimous total of 400 points to sit atop of the poll followed by Southern Arkansas (372), St. Mary's (366), North Georgia (325), Grand Valley State (325), Valdosta State (324), WT (306), Saint Leo (260), Adelphi (257) and Chico State (240) to round out the top ten.
 
The South Central Region was represented by St. Mary's (2nd), WT (7th), Colorado Mesa (16th), Angelo State (21st ) and Lubbock Christian (RV).
 
WT SOFTBALL IN THE NFCA TOP-25 POLL
The Lady Buffs have been ranked inside of the NFCA DIvision II Top-25 Poll for 44 straight weeks. The Lady Buffs have been ranked in the Top-5 in 39 polls since the start of the 2014 season while sitting atop of the poll an incredible 29 times.
 
LSC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Karina Rocha, Angelo State
Rocha powered the Rambelles with three home runs in a sweep of Texas A&M-Kingsville to open up the Lone Star Conference schedule. The freshman hit .667 with four hits including a homer in each game and held a .800 on-base percentage. She hit her first career grand slam on Saturday and drove in six RBI while scoring five runs. The Buda native ended the weekend with a 2.167 slugging clip and drew four walks.
 
PITCHER
Kenedy Urbany, Angelo State
Urbany excelled for the Rambelles in the circle. She had a career day on Saturday striking out a career-high nine and holding Texas A&M-Kingsville to just one hit in a complete game shutout. The Helotes sat down 16 straight in order at one point. She finished the weekend with a .93 earned run average and struck out 13. The senior only allowed four hits and one run in 9.2 innings pitched. She held TAMUK to a .121 batting average.
 
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 181-28 (.866) 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. 2016 marked the fifth time in the last six years ('11, '13, '14, '15, '16) that the Lady Buffs hosted NCAA Postseason action.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations Department will provide live stats and a free webstream for all games during the weekend. 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 at GoBuffsGo.com.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL/PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
The three-time defending LSC Champion #4 Lady Buffs have been selected the preseason favorite in the 2017 LSC Preseason Softball Poll. Kilee Halbert was named the LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year while fellow junior Ashley Hardin was tabbed the league's Preseason Player of the Year.
 
WT picked up 26 first place votes for a total of 324 points followed by A&M-Commerce (three first place, 269), Texas Woman's (one first place, 268), Angelo State (263), Cameron (176), Tarleton State (167), Midwestern State (161), A&M-Kingsville (144), Eastern N.M. (80), Western N.M. (79) and UT Permian Basin (49).
 
2016 IN-REVIEW
The Lady Buffs continued their dominance in 2016 as Kevin Blaskowski led the program to their third straight and fourth overall Lone Star Conference Championship as they finished the season 59-5 with a 30-2 mark in LSC play. WT made national news during the 2016 season as they went on the longest win streak in South Central Region history, winning their first 30 games. WT claimed their second South Central Regional Championship in 2016, coming from the loser's bracket to top Colorado Mesa twice on Championship Sunday followed by a Super Regional sweep of St. Mary's to advance to the program's second College World Series as WT finished the season ranked fifth in the nation.
 
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Entering the week, LSC softball teams were 88-70 overall this season. In the NCAA South Central Region, the group is currently 16-17 combined versus Heartland Conference teams and 15-9 against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.