ODESSA, Texas – West Texas A&M sophomore outfielder Brittany Cruz drove in five RBI including a three run bomb to give the #10 Lady Buffs a convincing Lone Star Conference road victory, 9-2 on Friday night against the Falcons of UT Permian Basin in the opening game of a three-game LSC series at the UTPB Softball Complex. The Lady Buffs improve to 27-6 (12-4 LSC) while the Falcons fall to 5-29 (2-14 LSC) overall.
 
Maddie Green started off the top of the second inning with a single thru the left side followed by a Shayne Starkey walk to put runners on first and second with no outs before Brittany Cruz broke the scoreless tie with a three-run blast the opposite way to right field for the early 3-0 lead.
 
Ashley Hardin singled to right to lead off the third followed by a four-pitch walk to Allie Smith, Green picked up her second hit of the afternoon with a single thru the left side to load the bases with one out followed two batters later by a Cruz two-run single to left. Alyx Cordell walked to load the bases again with two outs to knock UTPB's starter from the game followed by RBI walks by Shea Ibrahim and Shanna McBroom at 7-0.
 
The Falcons registered their first hit of the game in the top of the fourth with an Alyssa Gomez leadoff single up the middle before Kilee Halbert responded with a strikeout followed by the Falcon runner being called out for leaving first base early, Jessica Gonzalez doubled to right field with two outs and then stole third before Halbert's third strikeout ended the inning with WT leading 7-0.
 
Cordell started off the fifth with a single thru the left side followed by a fielder's choice to cut down the freshman at second for the first out of the frame, Emilee Baker singled to left field followed by a Hardin RBI single down the left field line to run the lead to 8-0.
 
Senior right-hander Kami Merrill entered to begin the home half of the fifth as the Calgary native allowed a leadoff single followed by a hit-by-pitch, WT forced a line drive to Baker in left followed by a wild pitch to move the runners up 60 feet and an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to 8-1. Merrill registered a strikeout for the second out of the frame followed by a walk to load the bases and a popup to first base to send the teams to the sixth with the Lady Buffs leading 8-1. UTPB cut into the lead again in the home half of the sixth inning with an Adrianna Berzoza double and a Cindy Juarez sacrifice fly to make it 8-2.
 
Cordell led off the seventh with a single to shortstop and moved to second on the errant throw followed by a Madi Meyers walk to put runners on first and second with no outs, the Falcons forced an infield popup followed by a Hardin RBI double to center for the junior's 51^st career multi-RBI game of her career as WT took a 9-2 lead to the bottom of the seventh.
 
Halbert picked up the victory (14-3) in the circle as the junior allowed no runs on two hits with no walks and three strikeout in her 4.0 innings of work. The win gives the Dalhart product her 49^th in Maroon & White to tie former Lady Buff standout Rita Hokianga (2014-15) for second all-time behind Marci Womack's 70 career wins from 2009-12.
 
The Lady Buffs and Falcons conclude their Lone Star Conference series tomorrow afternoon with doubleheader action set for 1 p.m. at the UTPB Softball Complex in Odessa.