CANYON, Texas – In a battle of two top teams in the country, No. 2 West Texas A&M softball defended its home field on Saturday afternoon to defeat the No. 3 UT Tyler Patriots 8-0 in six innings. The win improved the Lady Buffs' record to 48-6 and secures the program's sixth Lone Star Conference Tournament title.
 
Following the conclusion of the tournament, Emilee Boyer, Megan Guericke, Emily Liskai, Diana Murtha earned All-Tournament honors with Boyer receiving the tournament's Most Valuable Player honor.
 
WT manufactured a run early as Lauren Granger started the home half of the first with a single. After a Brittni Rufus walk, Emilee Boyer advanced the runners with a groundout to short. The extra base proved to be crucial as Diana Murtha lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring pinch-runner Kiley Avery.
 
The Lady Buffs added to their lead in the bottom of the third as a leadoff walk from Granger and single from Rufus advanced once again on a Boyer groundout to short. With two on and one out, Murtha reached on a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Madison Johnson. On the first pitch of her at bat, Johnson stood in the box and took the pitch off her elbow to plate a run. After the run crossed, UT Tyler brought Genesis Armendariz into the circle. Armendariz looked to have the Patriots in position to escape the inning as the pitcher forced a groundout right back to the circle off the bat of Gabriella Valforte. After recording an out at home, the throw to first tipped off the glove at first and rolled away to bring in Murtha from second. Armendariz limited the damage after the error to end the inning on a strikeout.
 
Trailing by three, UT Tyler attempted to mount a comeback in the fourth as the Patriots loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth. On what looked to be a grounder into left, Johnson made a terrific backhand stop before flipping to Murtha at third for the third out.
 
The defensive stop turned into offensive momentum in the bottom of the inning as a two-out double from Johnson brought home pinch-runner Halie Stoneking from first. A Valforte walk added traffic to the bases where Heaven Moreno doubled into the gap to bring home Johnson and extend the lead to 5-0. Megan Guericke followed the double with a bases-clearing single to right, putting the Lady Buffs in position to end the game with one swing of the bat.  The celebration had to wait another inning as the Patriots ended the fifth and stranding two WT runners on the bases.
 
UT Tyler wouldn't go down without a fight as the Patriots loaded the bases once again in the sixth inning. With UT Tyler threatening to score, Boyer induced another groundball into the 5-6 hole where Johnson replicated her success once again, backhanding the ball and flipping to Murtha to quiet the Patriots' rally.
 
The Lady Buffs ended the game in the bottom of the sixth as a walk from Murtha advanced to second on a Johnson single. With two outs in the inning, Valforte chopped a ball down to third where UT Tyler looked to escape the jam. The throw across the diamond hit Valforte and rolled to the fence, bringing in Murtha to score and end the game.
 
WT earns the Lone Star Conference's automatic qualifier bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament and will await its opponent with the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 6 at 9 a.m.