Game Notes
Tournament Program
Tickets 
  
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M softball returns to action this weekend, Feb. 11-13, as they travel down I-27 for the Visit Lubbock Collegiate Classic hosted by Lubbock Christian.   The No. 4 Lady Buffs will face Chadron State, Fort Lewis, Colorado Christian, Colorado School of Mines and UC-Colorado Springs. 
 
GAME COVERAGE
Live stats will be available for fans to stay up-to-date on all Lady Buff action provided by the LCU athletic communications department.  A live stream will only be provided for the Lady Buffs games against Colorado Christian and UCCS.  For more information, visit WT's softball schedule at GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
After Friday's games were canceled at the opening day of the Gulf Shores Tournament, the Lady Buffs dropped the season opener to No. 7 Valdosta State, 7-3.  WT came back to shutout West Alabama, 8-0, before falling to Barry, 4-3, on Sunday morning. 
 
SCOUTING CHADRON STATE (Friday/12 p.m. CT)
The Eagles of Chadron State make their season debut this afternoon against the Lady Buffs and are coming off a 13-27 finish during the 2021 season.  The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference competitors are led by fifth-year head coach Kaley Ness.
 
CSC welcomed back 13 returns including four seniors while introducing 14 newcomers to the 2022 roster.  Three senior pitchers return to the mound led by Peyton Propp.  Last season, the Eagles No. 1 ranked fourth in the RMAC with a .260 opponent batting average. 
 
SCOUTING FORT LEWIS (Friday/4 p.m. CT)
The Skyhawks were selected to finish seventh in the RMAC preseason poll after a 20-30 finish last season including the program's first appearance in the conference postseason since 2014.  FLC is led by first-year coach Dwight Sanders who welcomed 16 new players in the off-season. 
 
Senior Taylor Beaman returns this spring for the Skyhawks after posting a career-high 20 hits, 11 RBI and a .993 fielding-percentage in her junior campaign.  
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN (Saturday/10 a.m. CT)
The Cougars opened the 2022 season 4-0 at the South Central Region Crossover tournament in Albuquerque, defeating Western New Mexico, UT Permian Basin and Eastern New Mexico.  Larry Hays is in his fourth season at the helm of the softball program.  Under Hays, the Cougars reached the RMAC Championship game last season while a pair of players received All-America. Honors, Piper Lujan and Sydney Reamer. 
 
Senior's Lujan and Reamer return to the diamond for the Cougars with Reamer already posting over a .400 batting average. Junior outfielder Sami Edwards opened the season with a .643 batting average  while Kenzie Middleton collected 10 RBI.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES (Saturday/1 p.m. CT)
CSM led off the season 0-4 against tough competition at the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational where they three nationally-ranked opponents with LSC foes #18 Angelo State, #22 Texas A&M-Commerce and #15 Oklahoma Christian.
 
The Orediggers are led by first-year head coach Mike Coutts who took over the reigns in August 2021.  Sophomore Sydney Wilson is batting .385 for CSM with a pair of doubles.  Four pitchers have made appearances at the mound led by Sadriena Rodriguez with a .000 ERA.  Through 8.2 innings she has allowed just seven hits, five walks and 10 strikeouts while not giving up a single earned run. 
 
SCOUTING UCCS (Sunday/1 p.m. CT)
The Mountain Lions opened up with a doubleheader split series against Cal Poly Humboldt, taking game on 13-5 before falling 8-4.  Seventh-year head coach Ricki Rothbauer-Stubbs earned her 200^th career Division II victory last season. 
 
UCCS is coming of a eighth-place team finish in the RMAC with an overall record of 17-15 and 16-22 in conference play, and will return 12 student-athletes while introducing nine incoming freshman. 
 
NFCA RANKINGS
UT Tyler was selected atop the national standings as the 2022 season will be the first season that the Patriots are eligible for Division II postseason play.  Augustana received five first-place votes to stand second in the rankings followed by Biola with three in third.  
 
WT ranked fourth followed by North Georgia, Grand Valley State, Valdosta State, Saint Anselm, West Chester, and Concordia Irvine to round out the Top 10. Three additional programs from the LSC were named to the preseason poll with Oklahoma Christian in 15th followed by Angelo State (18th) and Texas A&M-Commerce (22nd) while Texas A&M-Kingsville is receiving votes.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
The UT Tyler Patriots were chosen to defend the regular-season title after picking up 22 of the possible 43 first place votes for a total of 654 points to sit atop the poll followed by the Lady Buffs (16-fpv), Angelo State (1-fpv), Oklahoma Christian (3-fpv), and Texas A&M-Commerce to close out the top five selections. 
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville (1-fpv) ranked sixth followed by Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M International, Cameron, St. Mary's, St. Edward's, Midwestern State, Texas Woman's, UT Permian Basin, Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico rounding out the poll.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs return to action as they host the annual WT Invitational next weekend, Feb. 18-20.  The tournament will feature six Division II programs in WT, Adams State, Fort Lewis, Northern State, Texas A&M-Commerce and UT Permian Basin.