CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M senior Brittni Rufus brought her heroics to Schaeffer Park once again on Saturday to give the No. 2-ranked softball team in the nation an 11-10 win over St. Mary's. The win gives the Lady Buffs a series sweep of the Rattlers to improve their overall record to 30-3 and 22-2 in Lone Star Conference play.  
 
St. Mary's started the game with a bang as leadoff batter Lauren Gonzales homered to left field on a 1-1 count. WT didn't let the lead last long as Lauren Granger walked to start the bottom of the first. After a ground out, Emilee Boyer and Diana Murtha drew walks to load the bases. A Madison Johnson single to center brought home pinch-runner Kiley Avery to tie the game with Boyer right behind her to take the lead.
 
The Rattlers regained the advantage in the next half inning as a Lady Buff error came around to score on a one-out two-RBI triple. After a strikeout, a hard single to short plated another run. St. Mary's added two more runs in the top of the third as a sacrifice fly to second scored a run. The throw into home went wide, allowing a second run to score on the play. In the fourth inning, the Rattlers plated another run on a WT error as a single fell into left field but went to the wall, pushing the St. Mary's lead to 7-2.
 
The two teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning as the Rattlers scored a run on an RBI ground out while the Lady Buffs scored on an RBI single from Murtha with two outs.
 
St. Mary's looked to have put the game away in the top of the sixth as a double came into score on a one-out RBI single to left. After a fly out, an RBI single to short scored the Rattler's 10^th run of the game. WT mounted its comeback in the bottom half of the inning as three-consecutive doubles from Megan Guericke, Emily Liskai, and Granger brought the score to 10-5. A Boyer single plated Granger before Murtha connected with a no-doubt home run to left, cutting the difference to two.
 
The Lady Buffs walked off the Rattlers in the bottom of the seventh as Guericke started the rally with a one-out walk. Another double from Liskai put runners on second and third with one out in the inning. St. Mary's put itself in position to steal the final game of the series as the Rattlers cut down a runner trying to score on a fielder's choice. With two outs in the inning, Rufus powered a home run over the left-center wall to walk off the game.
 
The Lady Buffs return to play next week with an LSC series at Western New Mexico. Thursday, March 28 sees the two teams play at 2 and 4 p.m. with a 1 p.m. first pitch on Friday to conclude the series.