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CANYON, Texas – The #10 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M will hit the road for the first time this season on Tuesday night as they make the short trip down Interstate 27 to face off with the Lady Chaps of Lubbock Christian with first pitch set for 6 p.m. at PlainsCapital Park in Lubbock.
 
- SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN
The Lady Chaps enter the weekend with an overall record of 9-4 with a 3-1 mark in Heartland Conference play following a league doubleheader split with Oklahoma Christian on Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City. LCU enters the week with an overall record of 6-1 at PlainsCapital Park as they've won their last four home contests with the only loss coming to Midwestern State on opening weekend.
 
Daren Hays enters his eighth season at the helm of the Lady Chaps as the third head coach in program history, accumulating an overall record of 332-86-7 (78.1%). LCU claimed their first Heartland Conference Title in 2017, picking up the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Postseason.
 
The Lady Chaps are led offensively by Lindzi Clemmer who is hitting .409 on the season with two doubles, one triple and seven homerun to drive in 16 RBI with 43 total bases for a slugging percentage of .977. In the circle, Monique Francois leads the way with a 2.28 ERA (6-1) as she has tossed six complete games in seven appearances with 41 strikeouts in 43.0 innings of work to allow an opposing batting average of .228.
 
LCU is hitting .280 as a team with 14 doubles, two triples and 18 homeruns to drive in 72 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .500. Defensively they've committed 23 errors on 369 chances for a fielding clip of .938. In the circle, they have registered a 3.71 staff ERA with six complete games, three shutouts and 53 strikeouts while allowing an opposing batting average of .269.
 
THE SERIES vs. LCU
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series against the Lady Chaps, 11-7 with WT taking the last five meetings between the two teams in a series dating back to 2008. The Lady Buffs are 5-4 all-time at PlainsCapital Park, winning their last two contests in Lubbock.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
National Runner-Up Angelo State picked up 29 of the possible 33 first place votes for a total of 359 points to sit atop of the poll followed by WT (three first place, 306 points), Texas Woman's (one first place, 267 points), Tarleton State (257), Cameron (250), Texas A&M-Commerce (223), Texas A&M-Kingsville (170), Midwestern State (135), Eastern New Mexico (108), UT Permian Basin (64) and Western New Mexico (39).
 
Angelo State's Brandy Marlett was named the league's Preseason Pitcher of the Year while Mariah Jameyson from Texas A&M-Commerce was tabbed the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. The poll is voted on by head coaches, sports information directors and media representatives throughout the league.
 
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (FEB. 21)
Defending National Champion Minnesota State picked up 14 of the possible 16 first place votes for a total of 398 points to sit atop of the poll followed by North Georgia (two first place, 381), Colorado Mesa (360), Dixie State (346), Angelo State (322), West Virginia Wesleyan (319), Southern Arkansas (280), Chico State (277), Southern Indiana (270), West Texas A&M (249) and Saint Leo (249) to round out the top ten.
 
The South Central Region was represented by Colorado Mesa (3rd), Angelo State (5th), WT (T-10th), Cameron (21st), Texas A&M-Commerce (T-25th), Tarleton State (RV) and St. Mary's (RV).
 
WT SOFTBALL IN THE NFCA TOP-25 POLL
The Lady Buffs have been ranked inside of the NFCA Division II Top-25 for 57 consecutive polls. The Lady Buffs have been ranked in the Top-5 in 41 polls since the start of the 2014 season while sitting atop of the poll an incredible 29 times.
 
NFCA DII NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCHLIST
West Texas A&M's Kilee Halbert, Allie Smith and Ashley Hardin were named to the NFCA Division II Schutt Sports National Player of the Year Preseason Top-50 Watch List announced on February 8th by the association's offices in Louisville, Kentucky. The three Lady Buffs are part of 10 selections from the South Central Region including three of the six student-athletes selected from the Lone Star Conference.
 
FASTPITCH NEWS DIVISION II PITCHER OF THE WEEK
West Texas A&M senior right-hander Kilee Halbert was named the Fastpitch News Division II National Pitcher of the Week announced last Tuesday morning.
 
The senior went 2-0 in the circle on Feb. 16-18 with a 0.00 ERA in her 12.0 innings of work, tossing a pair of complete game shutouts while allowing no runs on just 10 hits with no walks and 16 strikeouts for an opposing batting average of .222 on the weekend. Halbert struck out eight Dustdevils on Friday afternoon while allowing just four hits in a run-rule shortened complete game followed by eight more strikeouts on Saturday afternoon against UCCS for her second shutout of the weekend to move to 6-0 on the season.
 
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Entering last week, LSC softball teams were 87-49 overall this season. In the NCAA South Central Region, the group is 22-3 combined versus Heartland Conference teams and 19-13 against the RMAC. LSC teams are playing a single round-robin schedule with a three-game series against each league opponent. The overall LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games, while the winner of the postseason championship will be recognized as LSC Tournament Champion and receive the league's automatic qualification into NCAA postseason.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Lady Buffs have turned Schaeffer Park into one of the top home environments in all of NCAA Division II Softball. WT is 209-33 (.864) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season including 85-14 (.859) during regular season Lone Star Conference games in Canyon. 2017 marked the sixth time in the last seven years ('11, '13, '14, '15, '16, '17) that the Lady Buffs hosted NCAA Postseason action in Canyon.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The Lubbock Christian Athletic Communications Department will provide live stats and a webstream for Tuesday's contest. Fans can also follow the WT Athletics (@WTAthletics) Twitter account for live updates. For links and more information, visit the Lady Buff Softball schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com.
 
LADY BUFFS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Lady Buffs made their fifth straight and seventh overall appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball postseason during the 2017 campaign.
 
The Lady Buffs are 26-16 all-time in the NCAA Postseason including 18-10 in games played at Schaeffer Park. WT is 5-2 in the College World Seris as they claimed the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship.
 
RELOAD NOT REBUILD
The Lady Buffs boast a roster of four All-Americans and eight returners along with talented newcomers. WT will be guided by Kilee Halbert in the circle while Kylee Moore, Allie Smith, Ashley Hardin, Shanna McBroom, Alyx Cordell, Kourtney Coveney and Shayne Starkey all return to the starting lineup for the always powerful Lady Buff lineup.
 
2017 IN-REVIEW
The Lady Buffs continued to prove themselves as one of the top programs in all of Division II Softball during the 2017 campaign as they claimed the program's fourth Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship and hosted the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament for the fifth straight season. The Lady Buffs hit .371 as a team with 120 doubles, 10 triples and 98 homeruns to drive in 401 RBI for an incredible slugging percentage of .667. In the circle, the Lady Buffs registered a 2.47 ERA as a staff with 26 complete games, and 11 shutouts (three combined) to go along with 231 strikeout in 339.2 innings of work to allow an opponent batting average of .268 on the season.
 
HEAD COACH CANDACE ABRAMS
Candace Abrams enters her first season at the helm of the Lady Buffs following three years as the program's top assistant. Since arriving in Canyon, Abrams has been a part of two Lone Star Conference Championships as well as a South Central Regional Title and trip to the DII College World Series. Abrams enters the 2018 season with an overall career record of 202-65-1 (.754).