GAME NOTES

CANYON, Texas – No. 12 West Texas A&M faces No. 13 Grand Valley State in the first round of the NCAA Division II College Worlds Series on Thursday, May 27, in Denver, Colo. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. 
 
GAME COVERAGE
Live stats and video will be provided by the NCAA and can be found on NCAA.com. 
 
Tickets can be purchased HERE. 
 
SCOUTING NO. 13 GRAND VALLEY STATE
No. 13 Grand Valley State makes their fifth trip the NCAA DII College World Series after defeating No. 7 Indianapolis in a winner-take-all game on Saturday.
 
The Lakers are led by seventh year head coach Dana Callihan and enter the World Series at 44-8 overall and 28-4 in conference play. They won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference tournament with a pair of wins over second-seeded Northwood. 
 
Nikoma Holmen, a junior from Wyoming, Mich., was named the GLIAC Player of the Year. She is hitting a team-best .421 with 14 doubles, two triples and 12 home runs for 58 RBI and a .737 slugging percentage. 
 
Megan Koeningshof was named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year. She is hitting .333 with three doubles, two triples and 21 RBI. She is also 6-for-7 on stolen base attempts. 
 
Hannah Beatus pitched a complete game shutout in the Lakers' game two victory over UIndy where she struck out nine batters. The redshirt sophomore from Aurora, Ill. is 24-2 in the circle with an impressive ERA of 0.98. She has allowed 41 runs, 26 earned, on 49 walks with 191 strikeouts in 185 2/3 innings. 
 
MEETING AGAIN IN THE MILE HIGH CITY
Thursday's game between the Lady Buffs and Lakers will be a little more than five years to the day they met at the 2016 NCAA DII College World Series in the Mile High City.
 
WT was the higher seed that day as Brittany Gehle drove in two runs while Kilee Halbert tossed her fourth shutout of the season in WT's 4-0 victory over GVSU on May 17, 2021 in the opening round of the World Series.
 
CAN'T STOP THIS FEELING
Three weeks ago, WT was ranked as the fourth-best team in the South Central Region and are now heading to the World Series for the third in program history. Prior to their 10-5 loss to No. 10 Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday afternoon, WT had won 17 straight games which included three wins over ranked opponents and two perfect games.
 
During their second-longest win streak of the season, the Lady Buffs hit .363 with 34 doubles, seven triples and 19 home runs for 109 RBI and 249 total bases. In the circle, they only allowed 17 runs, 11 earned, in 92 innings pitched for an ERA of 0.84. They had 86 strikeouts compared to 19 walks and only allowed two home runs.
 
FINDING THEIR STRIDE AT THE RIGHT TIME
Following a 6-5 loss to No. 13 Oklahoma Christian on April 11, the Lady Buffs were 22-10 overall and 10-10 in LSC play. As mentioned above, WT has won 18 of their last 19 games to make a trip the College World Series for the first time since 2014. 
 
SHE IS THE BEST AROUND
West Texas A&M's Shanna McBroom was named the Diamond Sports/NFCA Division II Catcher of the Year on Tuesday afternoon. The senior also earned First Team All-American honors along with sophomore outfielder Ruby Salzman.
 
McBroom becomes the first Lady Buff to be named the National Catcher of the Year as the Sachse native is also a finalist for the NFCA DIII Player of the Year after being named the D2CCA Regional and Lone Star Conference Player of the Year.
 
The senior, who has appeared in 214 games during her five-year career, is hitting a career-best .444 with 13 doubles, eight triples and six home runs to drive in 34 runs for a .722 slugging percentage. She currently ranks first in the nation with 35 stolen bases, one more than she had in first four years as a Lady Buff combined. 
 
Salzman earns All-American honors for the first time in her career as the Northridge, Calif. native currently leads the nation in hits, 80. She is hitting .492 entering the NCAA DII World Series with 16 doubles, five triples and 12 home runs with 56 RBI with a .811 slugging percentage. She has also walked five times with nine strikeouts and a career-best 30 stolen bases.
 
JERRY RICE IS HER FAVORITE PLAYER
As mention above, Salzman has a nation-best 80 hits, matching the same number that Jerry Rice wore during his hall-of-fame career for the San Francisco 49ers. 
 
Now that we have your attention, Salzman's third season in Canyon has definitely been her best as her .457 batting average is the third-highest in a single season in program history. Only Renee Irwin and Lacey Taylor have ever finished a season with an average over .450. 
 
Her aforementioned 80 hits are the fifth-most in program history, tied with Kim LeComte (who recently married assistant athletic performance coach Matt Segura). Her .811 slugging percentage is the 10th best in program history. 
 
A DEEPER LOOK AT MCBROOM'S SPECIAL SEASON
Until last weekend, McBroom was leading the nations in hits until Salzman had nine hits in the South Central Regional. 
 
Her .444 batting average is the fifth highest by any Lady Buff in program history. Her eight triples are one away from tying Renee Irwin's mark of nine set back in 2012. She is also tied for second in stolen bases with 35, 16 away from tying Kasey Henderson's record of 51 set back in 2011. 
 
She has also driven in 34 runs, four away from her career best of 38 during her junior season where she hit .353 with seven doubles, three triples and nine home runs. 
 
DON'T MESS WITH KYRA LAIR
Kyra Lair is having her best season as a college pitcher as the redshirt sophomore is 21-5 with an ERA of 2.71 in 147 1/3 innings pitched. 
 
Her 174 strikeouts are the fourth most in a single season in program history, three shy of passing Marci Womack's total from the 2011 into third. 
 
DOUBLING DOWN
WT enters the final games of the season leading the nation in doubles, tied with Winona State at 95. Salzman individually ranks 85th in the nation and fourth in the LSC in doubles per game. 0.33. 
 
The Lady Buffs also rank fifth in NCAA DII softball in total runs and slugging percentage while ranking in the Top 10 in batting average, hits, home runs, scoring, stolen bases and triples. 
 
NFCA DIVISION II POLL
After reaching the Top 10 for first time in two seasons, WT dropped three spots to 12th in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 released on Wednesday. WT (32-10, 20-10 LSC) was idle last weekend as they prepared for the 2021 LSC Championship.
 
Augustana stayed first in the rankings for the sixth straight week with all 16 first-place votes followed by North Georgia, Auburn Montgomery, Oklahoma Christian and Lincoln Memorial. UT Tyler is sixth with Texas A&M-Commerce in sixth and WT in 12th. Angelo State also remained in the poll at 20th. 
 
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 52-20 overall record and have been ranked in the Top 25 in 11 straight weeks. 
 
Mook picked up his 200th career victory in the regular season finale against Eastern New Mexico where Emilee Wilson threw the third perfect game in program history. 
 
He 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.