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CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M faces its sixth Top 10 foe of the season as the No. 6 Lady Buffs (16-7, 5-5 LSC) hosts the No. 9 Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville (24-3, 8-2) this afternoon, March 20.   First pitch of the doubleheader series is set for 1 p.m. CT in the friendly confines of Schaeffer Park.
 
SCOUTING THE #9 JAVELINAS
No. 9 Texas A&M-Kingsville comes to WT 24-3 overall and 8-2 in Lone Star Conference play after sweeping past Eastern New Mexico.  The Javelinas outscored the Greyhounds 23-2 and now stand in fourth in the league standings.  TAMUK was selected to finish sixth in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll. 
 
Head coach Craig Nicholson is in his fifth season at the helm of the Javelinas program, and 25^th overall, compiling an overall record of 1,194-349-1 (.774). As the winningest coach in program history, he led the Javelinas to the 2019 National Championship game with a program record 52 wins. 
 
TAMUK is batting .377 which ranks second in the league led by junior Matisen Onofrei.  The Mesa, Ariz. product is hitting .482 on the season with a team-high 40 hits, 30 RBI, .771 slugging-percentage and .533 on-base-percentage.  She's started in all 27 games for the Javelinas behind the plate. 
 
Jory Cervantes ranks second on the team in batting average with her hitting .449 while Kayla Gonzalez leads the team with seven homers. 
 
Cervantes leads the offense in conference competition with the senior outfielder batting ,457 with 16 hits and eight RBI.   
 
Four players have made appearances on the mound this season led by Beth Montes (9-1).  The sophomore from San Antonio has been awarded nine victories on the mound this season, making 11 appearances with 10 starts.  She has a 1.18 ERA and limits opponents to hit .181. 
 
Carissa De Los Santos leads the league with a 0.99 ERA and has received five victories in the circle with one save. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 33-19 and 13-11 in Canyon dating back to the series start in 2006.  The Lady Buffs have won four of their last five meetings including a 9-1 run-rule victory in the NCAA DII South Central Regional last season.  WT is undefeated (4-0) against the Javelinas under head coach Michael Mook. 
 
A LOOK AT THE LADY BUFFS
The No. 6 Lady Buffs are hitting .348 as a team which ranks fourth in the league as the Lady Buffs outscore opponents 164-71, averaging 7.1 runs a game on 9.8 hits with 6.6 RBI.  
Three Lady Buffs are hitting over .400 led by Brittni Rufus at .500 followed by juniors Diana Murtha (.427) and Ruby Salzman (.403).  Murtha leads with a team-high .893 slugging-percentage, ranking second in the conference with 10 home runs. 
 
Six student-athletes have made appearances in the circle led by freshman Heidi Vortherms and junior Emilee Wilson, combining for 21 starts. Vortherms leads the team with seven victories to go along with a 1.98 ERA with 78 strikeouts which ranks fifth in the league.  Freshman Emma Parrish has received all three saves for the Lady Buffs, making a team-high 17 appearances. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Lady Buffs moved to 16-7 on the season after sweeping past Texas A&M International, 6-1 and 10-4, on Friday in a LSC two-game series. 
 
As a team, WT hit .321 scoring 16 runs on 17 hits with 16 RBI.  Diana Murtha, Megan Guericke and Gabriella Valforte each went 3-for-6 at the plate with Murtha driving in four runs. 
 
Emma Parrish (2-1) and Emilee Wilson (5-2) were each rewarded victory on the mound while Heidi Vortherms earned the start for each game.  Vortherms and Parrish each had a zero ERA, combining for five innings with 13 strikeouts. 
 
AGAINST TOP 25 TEAMS
Sunday's doubleheader marks the sixth Top 25 matchup for WT this season with the Lady Buffs 3-8 against nationally-ranked opponents including 1-3 at Schaeffer Park. 
 
AROUND THE LONE STAR
Three teams are 9-1 in Lone Star Conference play with UT Tyler standing in first with a 23-1 overall record followed by Lubbock Christian and Texas A&M-Commerce in second and third. Texas A&M-Kingsville ranks fourth in the conference standings followed by St. Mary's to round out the top five.  The Lady Buffs moved to eighth after grabbing a pair of victories over Texad A&M International.  
 
BOMBS AWAY
Through 23 games, the Lady Buffs have hit 30 homers which is the sixth most in the LSC and are led by newcomer Diana Murtha.  The Summerlin, Nev., native has sent 10 deep this year followed Ruby Salzman (6) and Madison Johnson (5).  Johnson registered the program's 80^th grand slam against Adams State. 
 
RECORD WATCH
Junior centerfielder Ruby Salzman registered her 43^rd career home run in the Lady Buffs 10-8 victory over Angelo State where she sent two out for her eighth multi-home run game. The Northridge, Calif. became the sixth player in program history to reach the 40-plus home run mark, ranking sixth all-time. 
 
NFCA RANKINGS
UT Tyler stayed atop the rankings picking up 12-of-16 first-place votes with a 21-1 overall record after going 4-0 over the weekend.  Concordia Irvine (24-0) earned four first-place votes to remain second in the national standings followed by Valdosta State, Indianapolis, Rogers State rounding out the top five.  
 
Five additional members of the Lone Star Conference rank in the national standings with Texas A&M-Kingsville standing in ninth followed by Lubbock Christian (14^th), Angelo State (17^th), Texas A&M-Commerce (20^th), and St. Mary's (23^rd) while Oklahoma Christian 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.
 
GAME COVERAGE
Live stats and stream will be available for fans to stay up to date on all Lady Buff action provided by the WT athletic communications department and the Lone Star Conference Digital Network.  The LSC Digital Network will offer season passes giving fans access to all regular-season contests. 
 
In addition, viewers have the option to purchase a $10 day pass that provides access to all broadcasts aired that day and access to all archived content for 24 hours. For more information, visit WT's softball schedule at GoBuffsGo.com. 
 
UP NEXT
WT set out to Austin to face St. Edward's on March 25 before facing #23 St. Mary's on March 27.