CANYON, Texas – The #13 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M connected on four homeruns on Sunday afternoon including a grand slam by junior Kourtney Coveney who drove in eight RBI on the day as WT topped Western Oregon and Southwestern Oklahoma State to conclude the WTAMU Invitational at Schaeffer Park.
 
The Lady Buffs return to action next weekend with another three team round-robin invitational as Texas A&M-International and UC-Colorado Springs come to Canyon with action starting on Friday.
 
THE BASICS:
 - Game 1 Score: #13 West Texas A&M 8, Western Oregon 2
 - Game 2 Score:  #13 West Texas A&M 13. Southwestern Oklahoma State 3 (5 Innings)
-  Records: WT (7-1) / SWOSU (0-4) / WOU (6-3)
 - Location: Canyon, Texas
 - Venue: Schaeffer Park
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 1):
WT wasted little time starting off the scoring as senior center fielder Ashley Hardin connected on her 60^th career homerun, a solo shot to left center, to give the Lady Buffs a 1-0 lead and move the Flower Mound native into second place on WT's all-time homerun list behind Renee Erwin (62).
 
The Wolves got on the board in the top of the third inning with a pair of infield singles followed by a Nikki Miller RBI double to the right field wall to tie the game at 1-1, Kilee Halbert responded as the senior forced a pair of grounders down the first base line to Kylee Moore followed by a dribbler back to the circle to end the inning.
 
The Lady Buffs retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as Kourtney Coveney and Hardin registered two-out walks before a Moore RBI single to right center to make it 2-1, WT wasn't done yet as Allie Smith was hit by a pitch to lead the bases followed by a Shayne Starkey RBi single thru the right side to extend the lead to 3-1.
 
Western Oregon responded in the top of the sixth as a Lady Buff fielding error plated a run with one out to cut the lead to 3-2. Shanna McBroom led off the home half of the sixth with a double to left center followed by walks to Alyx Cordell and Suka Van Gurp to load the bases, Coveney put the game away with a grand slam to straight away center field followed later in the inning by a Moore solo bomb to left to run the lead to 8-2.
 
Halbert picked up the win (4-0) in the circle for the Lady Buffs, giving up two runs (one earned) on seven hits with three walks and a pair of strikeout in the complete game victory.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 2):
The Bulldogs got on the board first in the top of the opening frame with an RBI double before the Lady Buffs responded as a pair of Bulldog errors led to two WT runs highlighted by an Allie Smith RBI double off of the center field wall for the 2-1 lead.
 
WT added to their lead in the home half of the second as Coveney connected on a three-run blast to center field followed later in the inning by a two-run triple by Starkey who later scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-1, the Lady Buffs weren't done yet as two more runs crossed the plate to run the lead to 10-1. The Bulldogs cut into the lead in the top of the third as a WT fielding error allowed a pair of runs to score to make it 10-3.
 
The Lady Buffs added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run triple to left center by Moore followed later in the inning by a Starkey RBI single to center field to run the lead to 13-3. Starkey picked up the win in the circle (2-0) for the Lady Buffs as the junior lefty allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts in her three innings of work while Coveney finished off the final two innings.