CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M's Shayne Starkey drove in five RBI while also striking out nine Mountain Lions as the junior left hander led the #13 Lady Buffs to a Sunday afternoon victory over UC-Colorado Springs to conclude the WTAMU Invitational at Schaeffer Park in Canyon.
 
The Lady Buffs begin Lone Star Conference play next weekend as they hit the road to take on the Pioneers of Texas Woman's in a three-game series beginning on Friday night at Pioneer Field in Denton.
 
THE BASICS:
- Game 1 Score: #13 West Texas A&M 11, UC-Colorado Springs 4
- Records: WT (11-1) / UCCS (5-7)
- Location: Canyon, Texas
- Venue: Schaeffer Park
 
HOW IT HAPPENENED:
The Mountain Lions started off the scoring in the top of the first inning as Alex Cook tripled to left center to drive in a pair of runs followed by a Lady Buff error and an RBI single from Lexi Belligan to make it 4-0. The Lady Buffs responded in the home half of the inning as Shayne Starkey registered her first career grand slam, a blast off of the scoreboard in center field, to tie the game at 4-4.
 
UCCS looked to retake the lead in the top of the second with a pair of singles to knock Stevie McLemore from the circle before Starkey entered and sat down three straight Mountain Lions to end the inning. WT took the lead in the bottom of the frame as Suka Van Gurp tripled to right field to score Shanna McBroom followed by a Kourtney Coveney sac fly to center to run the lead to 6-4.
 
WT added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning as Kylee Moore doubled to left center to score Ashley Hardin from first base followed later in the frame by a Starkey RBI single thru the right side to score Kinzie Jones as WT extended their lead to 9-4. Jones picked up her first career RBI in the home half of the sixth with a double to the left center field gap followed by a Starkey RBI triple to right center as the junior finished the game just a double shy of the second cycle in program history.
 
Starkey picked up the win in the circle (4-0) as the Denton native allowed no runs on no hits with no walks and a career high nine strikeouts in her 5.0 innings of work.