CANYON, Texas – The #15 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M step out of Lone Star Conference play this week as they head to Colorado for three in-region contests during Spring Break, WT will take on Colorado Christian on Tuesday afternoon in Lakewood followed by a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader at Colorado State-Pueblo.
 
- SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
COLORADO CHRISTIAN
The Cougars enter the weekend with an overall record of 19-1 including a 12-0 mark in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action as CCU enters the week riding a 17-game win streak. The Cougars swept a four-game series with Black Hills State this past weekend in Lakewood.
 
Shanon Hays enters his second season at the helm of the Cougars following a five-year stint as the head coach at Texas Tech. Hays was the head coach at Lubbock Christian when the Lady Chaps claimed an NAIA National Championship in their first season as a program.
 
The Cougars are led offensively by Alyssa Hanks who is hitting .466 on the season with 10 doubles, a triple and two homeruns to drive in 24 RBI with 45 total bases for a slugging percentage of .776. In the circle, Kenzie Mattey leads the way with a 1.64 ERA (11-0) as she has tossed six complete games and one shutout in 15 appearances with 64 strikeouts in 65.2 innings of work to allow an opposing batting average of .179.
 
CCU is hitting .389 as a team with 42 doubles, seven triples and 22 homeruns to drive in 172 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .498. Defensively they have committed 21 errors on 506 chances for a fielding clip of .958. In the circle, they have registered a 3.32 staff ERA with eight complete games, two shutouts and 116 strikeouts while allowing an opposing batting average of .227.
 
THE SERIES vs. CCU
Tuesday afternoon will mark the first ever meeting between West Texas A&M and Colorado Christian on the diamond.
 
COLORADO STATE-PUEBLO
The Thunderwolves enter the week with an overall record of 6-13 including a 5-7 mark in RMAC play following three losses to Adams State on Friday and Saturday in Alamosa during a four-game conference series.
 
Christie Koschke enters her fifth season at the helm of the Thunderwolves. Since coming to Pueblo in the 2013 season, she has gone 106-93 overall, and boasts a 88-57 record in conference play in her four seasons with the Pack.
 
The Pack are led offensively by Michaela Burpee who is hitting .407 on the season with four doubles, a triple and a homeruns to drive in 12 RBI for a slugging percentage of .559. In the circle, K'Lee Kent leads the way with a 4.28 ERA (3-5) as she has tossed four complete games in 15 appearances with 31 strikeouts in 52.1 innings of work.
 
CSUP is hitting .288 as a team with 23 doubles, 10 triples and three homeruns to drive in 70 RBI for a team slugging percentage of .386. Defensively they have committed 30 errors on 537 chances for a fielding clip of .944. In the circle, they have registered a 5.22 staff ERA with six complete games and 59 strikeouts while allowing an opposing batting average of .353.
 
THE SERIES vs. CSUP
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series with the Pack, 5-1 as WT has taken the last five meetings between the two teams in a series dating back to the 2006 season. Wednesday afternoon will mark the first games between the two teams in Pueblo, Colorado.
 
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 (MAR. 6)
Colorado Mesa took over the top spot in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top-25 Poll announced on Tuesday morning by the association's offices in Louisville, Kentucky. The Mavericks picked up eight of the possible 18 first place votes for a total of 389 points followed by North Georgia (nine first place, 385), Dixie State (one first place, 378), Angelo State (349), Chico State (323), North Alabama (313), Southern Arkansas (310), Winona State (264), Minnesota State (252) and Saint Leo (220) to round out the top ten.
 
The South Central Region was represented by Colorado Mesa (1^st), Angelo State (4^th), Texas A&M-Commerce (11^th), West Texas A&M (15^th), Cameron (21^st) and Tarleton State (RV).
 
WT SOFTBALL IN THE NFCA TOP-25 POLL
The Lady Buffs have been ranked inside of the NFCA Division II Top-25 for 59 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.
 
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Entering last week, LSC softball teams were 109-62 overall this season. In the NCAA South Central Region, the group is currently 24-3 combined versus Heartland Conference teams and 21-13 against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. 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 213-34 (.864) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season including 87-15 (.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 Colorado Christian and CSU-Pueblo Athletic Communications Department will provide live stats and a webstream for this week's games in Colorado. 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).