Game Notes
 
CANYON, Texas – The No. 20 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M (19-10, 8-8 LSC) return to Schaeffer Park on Friday, April 1, when they welcome the Cameron Aggies (19-15, 7-9 LSC) in a conference doubleheader.  First pitch is set for 4 p.m. CT. 
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Cameron comes to Canyon 19-5 and 7-9 in Lone Star Conference play after splitting with Midwestern State, moving to ninth in the league standings.  
 
Kayla Adams is in her third season at the helm of the Aggies program after taking over in the fall of the 2019.  Last season, she had seven players earn All-Conference honors with one earning All-South Central Region Accolades.   
 
CU is batting .295 which ranks 10th in the league led by junior Breley Webb.  The Yukon, Okla. native is hitting .413 on the season with a team-high 43 hits with 17 runs and 17 RBI.  Maci McMurtney leads the offense in conference play hitting .406.
 
Josie Swafford ranks second on the team in batting average hitting .347 while Abigaile Carney leads the team with seven home runs. 
 
Four pitchers have made appearances on the mound this season led by Webb (8-4).  She's been awarded eight victories on the mound this season, making 17 appearances with 15 starts.  She has a 3.32 ERA and limits opponents to hit .283. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 35-12 with 18 victories coming in Canyon since the series start in 2006.  The Lady Buffs are 1-1 against the Rattlers under head coach Michael Mook after splitting the regular-season doubleheader series in Lawton last season. WT took game one, 8-5, before falling 7-6 in the finale.  
 
A LOOK AT THE LADY BUFFS
The No. 6 Lady Buffs are hitting .336 as a team which ranks fifth in the league with the Lady Buffs outscoring opponents 194-97.  Two Lady Buffs are hitting over .400 led by Brittni Rufus at .457 which ranks fifth in the conference followed by junior Ruby Salzman at .423.   Murtha leads with a team-high .821 slugging-percentage, ranking second in the LSC with 12 home runs. 
 
Six pitchers have made appearances in the circle led by freshman Heidi Vortherms and junior Emilee Wilson, combining for 25 starts. Vortherms leads the team with eight victories to go along with a 1.93 ERA with 101 strikeouts, ranking fifth in the conference.  Freshman Emma Parrish has received three saves for the Lady Buffs, making a team-high 19 appearances. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Lady Buffs moved to 19-10 on the season after dropping a pair of conference matchups against St. Mary's.  WT fell short in game one, 3-1, before the Rattlers took the series finale with a 7-2 conference victory. 
 
AGAINST TOP 25 TEAMS
Sunday's doubleheader marks the sixth Top 25 matchup for WT this season with the Lady Buffs 5-8 against nationally ranked opponents including 3-3 at Schaeffer Park. 
 
AROUND THE LONE STAR
Texas A&M-Commerce moved atop the Lone Star Conference standings with a 14-2 record in league play with UT Tyler a game behind at 13-3.  Texas A&M-Kingsville, Lubbock Christian, St. Mary's and Oklahoma Christian are in a four way tie for third at 12-4. 
 
BOMBS AWAY
Through 29 games, the Lady Buffs have hit 34 homers which is the seventh most in the LSC and are led by newcomer Diana Murtha.  The Summerlin, Nev., native has sent 12 deep this year which ranks second in the league.  She is followed Ruby Salzman with six and Madison Johnson with five.  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. 
 
Kyra Lair continues to make her way up the all-time leaderboard as the right-handed pitcher ranks fourth wins (49), games started (69), while standing fifth in innings pitched (381.0), appearances (84), strikeouts (324) and shutouts (7).  Junior Emilee Wilson is working her way onto the leaderboard and is just nine strikeouts away from tying former Lady Buff Andrea Renteria in 10^th. 
 
NFCA RANKINGS
Concordia Irvine moved to the top spot of the national standings as the unanimous No. 1, receiving all 16 possible first-place votes with a perfect 32-0 record.  UT Tyler moved to second after recording a pair of losses over the weekend followed by Rogers State, Valdosta State and Indianapolis rounding out the Top 5. 
 
Alongside UTT, six additional programs from the Lone Star Conference ranked in this week's national standings with Texas A&M Commerce in ninth followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville (12^th), Angelo State (14^th), Lubbock Christian (17^th), WT (20^th), and Oklahoma Christian (22^nd). 
 
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 will return to Schaeffer Park on Sunday, April 3, when the Lady Buffs host the No. 22 Oklahoma Christian with first pitch of the two-game series set for 1 p.m. CT.