Lady Buffs defeat Javelinas to advance in LSC tournament

CANYON, Texas – Top-seeded West Texas A&M Softball used big innings and strong defense to defeat No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville 8-2 on Thursday night. With the win, the Lady Buffs move to an overall record of 46-6 this season and advance to the semifinal round of the Lone Star Conference tournament.

The Lady Buffs began scoring in the second half Diana Murtha started the inning with a walk. Madison Johnson This was followed by a single up the middle that set up a pair of base runners with no outs. After Kiley Avery While replacing Murtha on the bases, WT made a double steal and moved the runners up Gabriella Valforte. Valforte lifted the ball deep into the right-center corner where the right fielder caught the ball, where Avery easily scored. Now with a runner on third and one out, Heaven Moreno made a sacrifice to bring home the pinch-runner Halie Stoneking from the third party.

In the third round, WT extended its lead Brittni Rufus Single with one out. While Emilee Boyers At bat, Rufus stole second before advancing to third on an errant throw by the catcher. With Rufus at third, Boyer reached first on an infield single, where she was replaced Riley Stiner. Stiner promptly took second place as Murth doubled the gap, hitting Rufus and moving Stiner into third place. Valforte recorded her second RBI of the game when the senior hit a single down the line. With two outs, Valforte and Murtha completed a double steal and scored another run.

The Lady Buffs continued to extend their lead in the fourth inning Emily Liskai tripled into the gap with one out. When the score was 1-0 Lauren Granger hit a hard groundball to second base, where the Javelina defender rallied and threw Granger out as Liskai crossed the plate. WT threatened to score after the RBI failed, but was unable to score any more runs.

Texas A&M-Kingsville broke the shutout in the top of the fifth when a single and a walk put runners on the base paths. After a lineout to short, Kayla Gonzales hit a single off the wall in center field to clear the bases and score two. In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Buffs tied the game with two runs. With one out in the inning, Liskai hit a single and Granger walked to score two. With Rufus at the plate, the pair completed a double steal. Rufus took advantage of the situation when the senior took off the pitcher's glove to score Liskai. After Rufus took second, Boyer finished third, scoring WT's final run of the game.

The Lady Buffs advance to the semifinal round, where they will face the winner of No. 4 Oklahoma Christian and No. 5 St. Mary's at 6:30 p.m