PORTALES, New Mexico – West Texas A&M sophomore infielder Kourtney Coveney connected on three homeruns in the series opener as the #7 Lady Buffs raced past the Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico in a Lone Star Conference doubleheader sweep on Friday afternoon in Portales, New Mexico. The Lady Buffs improve to 39-9 (23-6 LSC) on the season while the Hounds fall to 20-35 (10-19 LSC) overall. 
 
Coveney sets a new WT single game record with three homeruns while becoming the 10th player in Lone Star Conference history with three big flies in a single game. Her six RBI ranks tied for sixth in program history for RBI in a game.  
 
The Lady Buffs and Greyhounds conclude the regular season tomorrow morning with first pitch scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CT in the series finale on Senior Day in Portales. The game was moved up from the originally scheduled 1:00 p.m. CT first pitch due to the threat of inclement weather in the area. 
 
GAME 1 - #7 West Texas A&M 15, Eastern New Mexico 1 (5 Innings)
The Lady Buffs didn't waste any time getting on the board as Shea Ibrahim drew a leadoff walk followed by a Kourtney Coveney two-run blast to right field for the early 2-0 lead. ENMU cut into the lead in the home half of the first as Ashley Lopez layed down a squeeze bunt with runners on the corners to cut the lead to 2-1.
 
Shayne Starkey and Brittany Cruz started the second with singles followed by an Alyx Cordell walk to load the bases, the Greyhounds got out of the inning unharmed as a strikeout and line drive double play ended the inning. WT added to their lead in the top of the third as Ashley Hardin singled to right field followed by a Kylee Moore two-run homerun to right center, Cordell singled to center field with runners on the corners and two outs followed by an Ibrahim RBI double to left to run the lead to 6-1.
 
Coveney continued her big afternoon as the sophomore crushed a leadoff bomb to center in the fourth, Maddie Green singled to left to score Moore with an Eastern error to score Allie Smith followed by a Starkey groundout to first to run the lead to 10-1. Cordell kept the momentum on WT's side in the bottom of the fourth as the freshman made an unbelievable diving stop up the middle to flip to Coveney to turn the double play followed by a Kilee Halbert strikeout to end the inning.
 
Cordell and Ibrahim singled to left field to start the fifth followed by what looked to be a fly ball to the wall but the combination of wind and a dropped ball gave Coveney her third homerun of the game, WT loaded the bases with one out followed by an Emilee Baker RBI single thru the right side and a Cruz RBI single down the right field line for the 15-1 lead.
 
Halbert picked up the win (19-3) for the Lady Buffs, giving up one run on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts in her 4.0 innings of work while Kami Merrill worked a scoreless fifth.
 
GAME 2 - #7 West Texas A&M 7, Eastern New Mexico 2
Ibrahim started game two with a leadoff double to right center followed by a Coveney single to center to put runners on the corners, Moore was hit by a pitch two batters later to load the bases followed by a strikeout and a popup to leave the bases loaded. ENMU took the early lead in the home half of the first inning as Lopez singled thru the right side with two outs for the 1-0 advantage.
 
The Lady Buffs took the lead in the top of the second inning as Hardin drove a grand slam over the scoreboard in left center for the 4-1 lead. Hardin struck again in the top of the fifth inning with a leadoff solo shot to left center for the 5-1 lead.
 
ENMU cut into the lead again in the bottom of the fifth inning as Lopez singled to left field to score Erikka Burke with no outs before Alexis Alfonso responded with a strikeout and popup followed by a grounder to the circle to end the threat with WT leading 5-2. The Lady Buffs used the long ball again in the top of the seventh as Moore led off the frame with a solo shot to right field followed by an ENMU throwing error that plated another run to extend the lead to 7-2.
 
That's all that Alfonso would need as the senior picked up the win (10-2) in the circle, giving up two runs on 11 hits with no walks and five strikeouts in the complete game win.