STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The #6 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M used a great outing in the circle by Shayne Starkey and a sixth inning solo homerun with two outs by sophomore Brittany Cruz as they outlasted the TexAnns of Tarleton State, 5-4 on Sunday afternoon in front of over 300 people at the TSU Softball Complex in Stephenville, Texas. The Lady Buffs improve to 18-4 (4-2 LSC) on the season while the TexAnns fall to 14-10 (5-4 LSC) overall.
 
The Lady Buffs started the scoring in the top of the first inning as Shea Ibrahim doubled to right field with two outs to score Kourtney Coveney all the way from first base for the 1-0 lead. Alyx Cordell led off the third inning with a four-pitch walk to knock TSU starter Kayleigh Williams from the circle, Jordan Withrow entered and forced a fielder's choice groundout to get the lead runner followed by a Coveney walk followed by an Ashley Hardin single thru the right side to load the bases. Allie Smith reached on an error with two outs to score a pair of Lady Buffs to run the lead to 3-0.
 
Marisa Flores led off the home half of the third with a double to straight away center field followed by a sac bunt to move the runner to third and turn over the TSU lineup, Shayne Starkey forced a first-pitch fly ball to shallow left followed a pitch later by a popup to first to end the inning.
 
Kylee Moore singled off of the right field wall to start the fourth followed by a full-count walk to Brittany Cruz and a Cordell sac bunt to put runners in scoring position with one out, Shanna McBroom lifted a ball to right for the sac fly to run the lead to 4-0.
 
Nyka Wood doubled to left center to start the home half of the fourth followed by a lineout to Coveney at second and a hit-by-pitch to put runners on first and second with one out, Starkey responded as the lefty forced a groundball to second followed by a strikeout to end the threat with WT leading 4-0.
 
The TexAnns look to cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of singles with one out followed by a pinch-hit single to load the bases, Wood doubled to left field to drive in a pair followed by an RBI from Savannah Stech and Kadyn Kirkpatrick to tie the game at 4-4 headed to the sixth. WT retook the lead in the top of the sixth inning as Cruz connected on a solo bomb to left with two outs to give WT the 5-4 lead.
 
Alexis Alfonso entered the game to start the bottom of the sixth as the senior right hander forced a ground ball to Ibrahim at third for the first out followed by a walk and a bloop single to left, Maddie Quintanar grounded out to Cordell on the first pitch of the at-bat to move the runners up 60 feet before a grounder to Ibrahim at the hot corner ended the inning with WT leading 5-4.
 
Haley Freyman entered for the TexAnns and forced a lineout to second followed by a ground ball on the right side, Hardin walked on five pitches before a grounder to second ended the inning as the teams headed to the final half inning with WT leading 5-4.
 
Wood reached on an error to start the frame followed by a sac bunt from Stech for the first out, Fonz forced a grounder back to the circle on the first pitch of the next at-bat followed by a strikeout to end the game with WT winning 5-4.
 
Starkey picked up the win (4-1) for the Lady Buffs, giving up four runs on eight hits with no walks and one strikeout in her 5.0 innings of work while Alfonso picked up her first career save, giving up no runs on one hit with one walk and a strikeout in the final two innings.
 
The Lady Buffs return to the friendly confines of Schaeffer Park next weekend as they host the Mustangs of Western New Mexico in a four-game series starting on Friday night at 5 p.m. in Canyon. The final three games of the weekend series against WNMU will count toward the Lone Star Conference standings while the opener will just be considered an in-region contest.