CANYON, Texas – In front of family and friends, No. 6 West Texas A&M's Kourtney Coveney, Mari Ruiz, Shayne Starkey and Kylee Moore led the Lady Buffs to a three-game sweep of Texas Woman's on Senior Weekend on Saturday afternoon at Schaeffer Park. The four seniors were honored in between the doubleheader where WT outscored the Pioneers 20-7 with six home runs
The Lady Buffs finish the regular season with a three-game series at No. 22 Tarleton in Stephenville, Texas on April 26-27.
THE BASICS
Game One Score: #6 West Texas A&M 12, Texas Woman's 3 (5 Innings)
Game Two Score: #6 West Texas A&M 8, Texas Woman's 4
Records:#6 West Texas A&M (30-10, 21-6 LSC), Texas Woman's (10-257 8-19 LSC)
Location:Canyon, Texas
Game One
The Lady Buffs saw themselves down 1-0 in the top of the first inning on Paige Tamayo's home run to center field and could have been worse had Kyra Lair not gotten Lindy Kennedy to ground out to get the freshman out of a bases loaded jam. Miranda Grotenhuis tied the game at 1-all in the bottom of the second with one swing of the bat as the junior sent a 2-2 offering the Black Monster in left field.
Lair sat the Pioneers down in order in the top of the third before WT scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 4-1. Moore got everything started with a leadoff double before moving over to third on a single to right from Coveney. Shanna McBroom would empty the bases at the next at-bat with a double off the wall in right center. The junior would later come around to score on Starkey's liner to right.
TWU would respond with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to one, 4-3, on Alexis Elizondo's single to left center. McBroom restored the Lady Buffs three-run lead with her second two RBI double to score Moore and Coveney. WT's offensive erupted in the bottom of the fifth scoring six runs including Moore's fifth career grand slam to end the game. Following the first out of the inning, Starkey reached on a single with Ruby Salzman reaching on an error from the third basemen. Brittany Cruz followed that up with a single to left to load the bases with Amelya Huggins and Alyx Cordell each being hit by a pitch to plate two runners. After a TWU pitching change, Moore took the second pitch she saw over the fence in right for her 60thcareer home making her one of three Lady Buffs to reach that mark.
Lair (14-3) recorded her 11thcomplete game of the season allowing three runs (three earned) on five hits with two walks and a strikeout over five innings. The Canyon, Texas native now ranks 10thin program history in career victories.
Game Two
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when McBroom connected on her ninth home run of the season with a shot off the scoreboard in centerfield. TWU would respond in the top of the fourth with a run of their own on a Taylor Goulet double to right to score Tamayo. Goulet would reached third with two outs but Starkey forced a ground out to Cordell to end keep the game tied at 1-all.
The Lady Buffs retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning after Salzman and Huggins reached on errors. With runners on first and third, Cordell laid down a textbook bunt that scored Salzman and reached first after colliding with the Tylia Sylestine on her way to first. A two-run home run from Sylestine in the top of the fifth inning gave the Pioneers a 3-2 lead that was short lived as Starkey connected on a two-run shot of her own in the bottom half of the inning. Grotenhuis reached on another Pioneer error followed by Starkey's fifth home run of the season with a laser over the fence in right field.
Starkey sat TWU down in order in the top of sixth before the Lady Buffs broke the game wide open in the bottom of the inning with a pair of home runs. Following Coveney's walk on four pitches, Grotenhuis homered for the second time in the doubleheader with a moonshot over the Black Monster. Starkey's single up the middle forced a pitching change that was followed by Salzman's team leading 14thhome run over the left field wall.
The Pioneers didn't go down lightly as they pulled a run back but Starkey (14-4) got out a bases loaded jam for her 19thcareer complete game allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
