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CANYON, Texas – No. 22 West Texas A&M softball (21-12, 10-10 LSC) welcomes Midwestern State (6-29, 5-15 LSC) in Lone Star Conference action on Friday, April 8.  First pitch is set for 4 p.m. CT at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. 
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Midwestern State comes to Canyon 6-29 and 5-15 in Lone Star Conference with victories against St. Edward's, Western New Mexico, and UT Permian Basin to rank 12^th in the conference standings. 
 
Brittanie Talley is in her first season at the helm of the Mustangs program since taking over as the program's third head coach in the fall.  She came to Wichita Falls after spending a five-year stint at Vernon College where she turned an eight-win program to a NJCAA powerhouse.
 
MSU is batting .251 as a team lead by Bailey Brenek.  The Flower Mound product is hitting .392 on the season with 38 hits and a team-high 11 doubles and .473 on-base-percentage.  She also leads the program in conference action with a .414 batting average making 17 starts in conference play. 
 
Outfielder Hanna Hetherington is a threat at the plate as the sophomore has sent out 10 homeruns this season while Ashley Turner leads the mustangs with 42 hits. 
 
Five pitchers have made appearances on the mound this season with a 6.63 team ERA led by Kennedy Cameron (4-10).  She's been awarded four victories on the mound this season, making 18 appearances with 13 starts and 10 complete games.  She has a 5.05 ERA and limits opponents to hit .285 which ranks fourth in the conference. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series 30-17 with 15 victories coming in Canyon since the series start in 2006.  The Lady Buffs swept past the Mustangs last season, outscoring MSU 10-3 with 5-1 and 5-2 victories.
 
A LOOK AT THE LADY BUFFS
The No. 22 Lady Buffs are hitting .336 as a team which ranks fifth in the league with the Lady Buffs outscoring opponents 217-120.  Two Lady Buffs are hitting over .400 led by Brittni Rufus at .450 which ranks fifth in the conference followed by Ruby Salzman hitting .427. Diana Murtha leads with a team-high .755 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 29 starts. Vortherms leads the team with nine victories to go along with a 1.74 ERA with 111 strikeouts, ranking sixth in the conference.  Freshman Emma Parrish has received three saves for the Lady Buffs, making a team-high 22 appearances. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Lady Buffs moved to 21-12 after dropping a pair of conference matchups to nationally ranked Oklahoma Christian. The Eagles came back to win 8-5 before posting a 12-2 series finale.    
 
AROUND THE LONE STAR
Four programs are in a tie at the top of the conference standings with UT Tyler, Lubbock Christian, Oklahoma Christian, and Texas A&M-Commerce all posting a 16-4 LSC record.  Texas A&M-Kingsville and St. Mary's are tied at fifth with a 15-5 conference record followed by Angelo State, WT, Cameron, and St. Edward's rounding out the Top 10. 
 
BOMBS AWAY
Through 33 games, the Lady Buffs have hit 37 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 eight and Madison Johnson with five.  
 
NFCA RANKINGS
UT Tyler returned to the top of the national standings with a 30-4 overall record followed by Concordia Irvine, Rogers State, Valdosta State, and Indianapolis rounding out the top five. 
 
Five other fellow members of the Lone Star Conference rank in the top 25 with Texas A&M-Kingsville coming in at seventh with Angelo State just outside of the Top 10 in 11^th.  Texas A&M-Commerce ranks 13^th in DII followed by Lubbock Christian (15^th) and Oklahoma Christian (19^th) while St. Mary's 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 will return to Schaeffer Park for the final time of the regular-season as they host Texas Woman's on Sunday, April 10 for Senior Day.  First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT while the Lady Buffs will honor Sydney Greeson between games.