CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M softball ran its win streak to 22 games on Friday afternoon, defeating the Western New Mexico Mustangs twice. The Lady Buffs cruised to an 11-2 run-rule victory in game one before posting a one-hit shutout of WNMU in a 5-0 game two win.
 
WT improves to 42-2 on the season and 32-2 in Lone Star Conference play while Western New Mexico falls to 13-30 overall and 10-24 in conference play.
 
The Lady Buffs continue the home stand against Eastern New Mexico on Sunday, April 13 with a 1 p.m. first pitch at Schaeffer Park.
 
THE BASICS
Game 1 Score: #1 West Texas A&M 11, Western New Mexico 2 (5 Inn.)
Pitching: (W) Emilee Boyer (21-1); (L) Labraida Tenorio (3-14)
After a scoreless top of the first, Lauren Granger wasted no time putting the Lady Buffs on the scoreboard. On the second pitch of her at bat, the junior slugger blasted a solo home run to left field. After a one-out double from Abby Howell, Emilee Boyer connected on a deep fly to center field. The ball came just shy of the fence, allowing Boyer to race around for an RBI triple. Cadence Colborn recorded an RBI when the freshman grounded out to first base, bringing the score up to 3-0.
 
WT added to its lead in the bottom of the third when Howell reached on a double to the gap. Colborn joined Howell on the bases on a four-pitch walk, bringing Heaven Moreno to the plate. Moreno lined a single into center to score Howell. After an error on the center fielder, Colborn turned on the jets to score from first and sent Moreno to second. Halie Stoneking added to the scoring when the junior outfielder ripped a single into left, scoring Moreno.
 
The Lady Buffs put things out of reach in the fourth inning when consecutive singles from Granger, Kiley Avery, and Howell loaded the bases. Boyer notched her second and third RBIs of game one on a single up the middle, extending the lead to 8-0. After a Mustangs pitching change, an RBI groundout from Trinity Kuntz scored another run. Riley Stiner, serving as a pinch-hitter, cashed in on the opportunity as she sent a towering two-run shot out to left.
 
Western New Mexico broke up the shutout in the top of the fifth when Jenna Peters hit a two-run home run to center field.
 
Game 2 Score: #1 West Texas A&M 5, Western New Mexico 0
Pitching: (W) Emilee Boyer (22-1); (L) Haiven Schoolcraft (2-4)
The Lady Buffs and Mustangs went scoreless in the first, sending the game to the second inning tied. In the bottom of the second, Boyer recorded her 50^th career home run and 180^th career home run to put WT up 1-0. With the home run, Boyer became the seventh Lady Buff to hit 50 home runs in their career and moved the junior into seventh on the program's all-time RBI leaderboard.
 
WT would double its lead in the bottom of the fourth when Colborn blasted a solo home run to center field on a 2-2 count, bringing the score to 2-0. The Lady Buffs would use the long ball once again in the fifth as Stoneking started the inning with a solo shot to left.
 
Howell made it three consecutive innings with a home run when the freshman launched one over the batting cages in left field, bringing the WT lead up to 4-0. Later in the inning, a Brianna Stokes replaced Boyer on the bases after junior reached on a four-pitch walk. Stokes moved to second on a wild pitch before advancing to third on a groundout to first. With two outs, Stoneking lined a single into center to score Stokes. Kendall Selitzky followed with a first-pitch single to center where a fielding error extended the inning and loaded the bases. Before the Lady Buffs could score more, Western New Mexico escaped the inning without further damage.
 
After Boyer pitched six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks, Heidi Vortherms entered for a shutout inning in relief to end the game.