(1) #3 West Texas A&M (50-4, 40-4 LSC) vs. (8) St. Edward's (27-27, 21-23 LSC)
Date & Time	Thursday, May 1st at 7:30 p.m.
Location	Canyon, Texas | Schaeffer Park
Live Statistics	StatBroadcast
Live Video (Pay Per View)	FloCollege
Other Links	Game Notes

 
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M softball begins its postseason journey on Thursday when the Lady Buffs host the eighth-seeded St. Edward's Hilltoppers in the Lone Star Conference Tournament. The quarterfinal matchup is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas.
 
GAME COVERAGE
The Athletic Communications Department from West Texas A&M will provide live stats and a pay-per-view web stream. Fans will need to purchase a monthly ($19.99) or annual ($107.88) subscription with FloSports, the official streaming provider of the Lone Star Conference. The subscription allows fans access to any content available on FloSports.
 
A LOOK AT THE (1) #3 LADY BUFFS
West Texas A&M softball battled No. 7-ranked Angelo State to a doubleheader split on Sunday afternoon. The Rambelles powered past the Lady Buffs in game one 7-0 before WT used the long ball to defeat Angelo State 6-2 in game two.The Lady Buffs end the regular season with an overall record of 50-4 with a 40-4 record in Lone Star Conference play while Angelo State enters postseason play with a 43-11 overall record.
 
The Lady Buffs feature another high-octane lineup that ranks inside the top 10 for Division II for almost every offensive category including doubles, on-base percentage, triples, and walks. WT leads the country in batting average, hits, home runs, RBIs, runs, scoring, and slugging percentage.
 
Junior Emilee Boyer's .479 batting average ranks fourth in the country and leads the team where 14 different players have a .300 batting average or higher. Boyer's 84 RBIs and 0.986 slugging percentage lead Division II while her 20 home runs rank second. Lauren Granger's 152 total bases hold the national lead while her seven triples rank 11th and 76 hits rank 15^th nationally.
 
In the circle, WT has posted a 1.92 ERA with 374 strikeouts and 93 earned runs in 339 innings. All four WT pitchers have reached double-digit strikeouts including Boyer with 209, Heidi Vortherms with 117, Kendall Selitzky with 38, and Ashley Mandell with 10. The Lady Buffs' 7.72 strikeouts per seven innings ranks third while the 1.92 ERA ranks 11th in the country.
 
Head Coach Michael Mook is in his sixth season at WT, registering a 236-57 (.805) record in that time. For his career, Mook holds 390-118 record in 10 seasons for an overall winning percentage of .768.
 
SCOUTING (8) ST. EDWARD'S
St. Edward's finished the regular season with a record of 27-27 and 21-23 in Lone Star Conference play. The Hilltoppers closed their schedule with a split at Texas A&M-Kingsville with a 7-6 victory along with a 6-7 loss in Austin. 
 
Katie Dillon leads the Hilltoppers offense as the senior holds a .428 batting average with a .939 OPS, .464 slugging average, and .475 on-base percentage. The Houston, Texas native paces St. Edward's with 71 hits, four doubles, a triple, 42 runs scored and 29 stolen bases. Megan Morris follows with a .341 average, .781 OPS, and a .415 slugging percentage on 60 hits including seven doubles and two home runs.
 
As a pitching staff, St. Edward's hold a 3.94 ERA in 362.2 innings of work. During that time, opponents are hitting .270 while hitting 70 doubles, 10 triples, and 34 home runs while striking out 164 times. Lisette Urquidez leads the staff with a 3.56 ERA on 25 appearances with 19 starts with 52 strikeouts and 46 walks. Kylen Padgett follows with a 3.72 ERA on 23 appearances and 22 starts with 64 strikeouts in 111.0 innings.
 
Hailey Post is in her second season as the head coach of the St. Edward's program and third overall. Post holds an 80-77-2 (.509) record for her career with an 45-61 (.425) record at the helm of the Hilltoppers. 
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series with St. Edward's 20-12 including 13-4 in Canyon. The Lady Buffs are 10-2 against the Hilltoppers under Michael Mook. In the regular season, game one saw WT jump out to a 5-0 lead after two innings before pulling away for an 8-1 victory. The Lady Buffs completed the sweep with an 8-3 win.
 
W, 8-3 – Canyon, 2025
W, 8-1 – Canyon, 2025
W, 2-0 – Canyon, 2024
W, 9-1 (6) – Canyon, 2024
W, 5-2 – Canyon, 2024
 
A LOOK AT THE BRACKET
Play begins in the single-elimination tournament with four quarterfinal games on Thursday. The day opens with No. 3 Angelo State vs. No. 6 Eastern New Mexico at 11 a.m. followed by No. 2 UT Tyler vs. No. 7 Cameron at 1:30 p.m. The second set of quarterfinal games features No. 4 Oklahoma Christian vs. No. 5 Lubbock Christian at 5 p.m. and closes with No. 1 WT meeting No. 8 St. Edward's at 7:30 p.m.
 
Two semifinal games are scheduled for Friday afternoon with the No. 3/6 winner vs. No. 2/7 winner at 2 p.m. and the No. 4/5 winner vs. No. 1/8 winner at 5 p.m. The two semifinal winners meet in the LSC Tournament championship game scheduled Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
West Texas A&M softball ranked second in this week's NCAA South Central Region Rankings as announced by the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis on Wednesday. This is the final NCAA rankings before the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 5.
 
UT Tyler topped the rankings followed by West Texas A&M in second and Angelo State in third. Oklahoma Christian ranked fourth with Colorado Christian, Colorado Mesa, MSU Denver, and Lubbock Christian following. Cameron and St. Edward's occupy the ninth and 10^th spots, respectively.
 
NFCA RANKINGS 
UT Tyler reclaimed the top spot with 15 first-place votes and 399 points followed by Francis Marion with one first-place vote and 378 points. The Lady Buffs took the No. 3 spot with 375 points followed by Central Oklahoma (348) and Tampa (336). Auburn Montgomery (314) and Angelo State (290) held at the sixth and seventh spots, respectively, with Augustana (276), Western Washington (272) and North Georgia (269) closing out the top 10.
 
The South Central region is represented by four teams with UT Tyler leading the way at No. 1. West Texas A&M (3^rd), Angelo State (7^th), and Oklahoma Christian (20^th) earned spots in the rankings.
 
UP NEXT
Following the conference tournament, the Lady Buffs will await their seeding for the NCAA Tournament. Selections to the 2025 NCAA Tournament will be announced with the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 5 at 9 a.m.