GAME NOTES

CANYON, Texas – No. 10 West Texas A&M finishes up the regular season on Saturday, May 1, when they host rival Eastern New Mexico for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Schaeffer Park. 
 
The Lady Buffs are currently 4-0 in their six-game home stand outscoring opponents by 39-5. 
 
GAME COVERAGE
A live pay-per-view stream and stats will be provided for both games of the doubleheader this weekend. For more information, visit GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
SCOUTING EASTERN NEW MEXICO
Eastern New Mexico enters the final week of the regular season with at 4-21 overall and 4-20 in Lone Star Conference play. After dropping their first 20 games of the season, the Greyhounds have won four of their last five games.
 
Duste Grawrock was named the interim head softball coach in April 2021 for the remainder of the season. She was previously a head coach at Southern Virginia University from 2010-14. 
 
Azalea Martinez is hitting a team-best .317 having started in 24 games. The redshirt freshman from Albuquerque, N.M. is 19-for-60 at the plate with six doubles and three home runs for six RBI. Aylene Lucero and Tiana Boone have driven in a team-high seven runs. 
 
Brook Leger has picked up three of the four wins for the Greyhounds in the circle. The redshirt freshman has made a total of 15 appearances including seven starts for an ERA of 9.17 allowing 50 runs, 37 earned, on 62 hits with 32 strikeouts. She has allowed one run or less in three of her last four starts including four scoreless innings in a 10-4 win over Midwestern State on April 18 in Wichita Falls.
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 39-15 including a record of 20-3 in Canyon. In their 54 meetings, WT has scored a total of 510 runs for an average of 9.4 per game. 
 
Prior to dropping a doubleheader to the Greyhounds in what proved to be their last games of the 2020 season, WT had 34 straight games in the series. 
 
LOOKING FOR REVENGE
As mentioned above, WT saw their 34-game win streak over the Greyhound come to an end on March 11, 2020 in Portales, N.M. as they dropped a pair of 1-run games. They have not dropped three straight contests to the Greyhounds since 2007-08. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Lady Buffs pushed their win streak to eight games with a pair of doubleheader sweeps against UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico.
 
Madison Johnson had herself a weekend as the freshman from Flower Mound hit .667 with two triples and three home runs for 11 RBI for a 2.111 slugging percentage. 
 
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
Ruby Salzman and Shanna McBroom continue to rake with runners in scoring position as they are hitting a combined .479. Salzman is also 9-for-13 from the plate with a runner on third and two outs. 
 
Maddie Geidel is 4-for-4 with the bases loaded this season including two of WT's three grand slams. The rest of the Lady Buffs are a combined 11-of-46 (.239) with three ducks on the pond.
 
The Lady Buffs have also hit a home run in a season-high five straight games. 
 
Emilee Wilson is a ground ball pitcher and the numbers fully supported that. 67.6 percent of the right hander's outs have come from ground balls compared to 32.8 percent from Kyra Lair. 
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS UPDATE
Shanna McBroom continues to lead the nation in the hits with 66 while Ruby Salzman ranks third with 64.
 
McBroom is tied for the most triples in NCAA DII softball with seven while ranking in the Top 10 in total bases (8th), stolen bases (6th) and runs per game (1.4),
 
Salzman is no slouch herself as the Northridge, Calif. natives 47 RBI are the eighth-most in th nation. She also ranks fourth in total bases (116) and 57th in batting average (.438). 
 
Kyra Lair has made 21 starts in the circle for the Lady Buffs, the seventh-most in the nation. The Canyon native also ranks 12th in victories (16) and 21st in strikeouts (130). 
 
LOOKING TO MAKE IT BACK TO THE PROMISED LAND
 The NCAA Division II softball committee released its second regional rankings for the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Wednesday. For the second straight week, No. 10 West Texas A&M is one of eight teams under consideration for a berth into the South Central Regional. 
 
The first two regional rankings will list teams under consideration in alphabetical order followed ty a ranking of the Top 8 teams in the South Central Region in the third poll. 
 
This year's championships will feature the top six teams, with the winner of the Lone Star Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference receiving an automatic bid with four remaining at-large spots. The softball selection show will broadcast on NCAA.com at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 16. 
 
The 2021 South Central Regional is scheduled to take place on May 19-21 at the John Cain Family Softball Complex in Commerce. 
 
NFCA DIVISION II POLL
 The Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M jumped up two spots to 10th in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 released on Wednesday morning. WT (30-10, 18-10 LSC) is a on an eight-game win streak after sweeping UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico last weekend at Schaeffer Park. 
 
The top five teams remained the same with Augustana in first with 12 of the 16 first-place votes. Valdosta State is second with three first-place votes followed by UT Tyler, North Georgia and UIndy. Oklahoma Christian jumped up four spots to sixth with Lincoln Memorial, Young Harris, Texas A&M-Commerce and WT rounding out the Top 10. Angelo State is ranked 23rd with Texas A&M-Kingsville tied for 25th with Northwest Nazarene.
 
RECORD WATCH
McBroom enters the final two regular season games of her career with her name all over the record books. The Sachse native is six hits away from passing Renee Irwin for third. She is also four runs away from moving into sixth in that category and passing Kasey Henderson.
 
With her seventh triple of the season and 14tth of her career in Sunday's win over Western New Mexico, McBroom tied former teammate Brittany Gehle for third on the all-time list.
 
Lair is also making her way up the record book as the redshirt sophomore passed Rita Hokianga for fourth in games started. 
 
TWO AWAY FROM 200
A sweep on Saturday would give head coach Michael Mook 200 wins for his career. After winning 154 games during his four years at Valley City State, he has won 44 games in 63 tries in Canyon. 
 
THE MOOK ERA
A new era of Lady Buff softball officially began on June 20, 2019, as Mook took charge as the third head coach in program history.  Under Mook, the Lady Buffs hold a 44-19 overall record and have been ranked in the Top 25 in seven straight weeks. 
 
Mook brought an impressive resume to WT softball with a 154-61 (.716) record at Valley City State University over his four-years with the Vikings including a program record 54 wins and an appearance in the NAIA World Series in the 2019 season.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL 
Oklahoma Christian totaled 619 points to sit atop the preseason poll, including 22 first-place votes.  UT Tyler was picked second with 548 points (four first-place) followed by Texas A&M-Commerce (five first-place, 538), Angelo State (three first-place, 535) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (six first-place, 533) to close out the Top 5.  Lubbock Christian (one first-place, 501) sits sixth followed by West Texas A&M (444), Cameron (375), St. Mary's (311), Eastern New Mexico (276), St. Edward's (265), UT Permian Basin (213), Texas Woman's (161), Midwestern State (143), Texas A&M International (143) and Western New Mexico (107).
 
ASU's Courtney Barnhill and TAMIU's Briana Arredondo received co-LSC Preseason Player of the Year recognition while OC's Kali Crandall was named the Preseason Pitcher of the Year.