Canyon, Texas – No. 1 West Texas A&M cruised to a 12-4 win in game one and pulled away in the latter stages of game two for the 10-3 win over A&M-Commerce in first of two Lone Star Conference doubleheaders Friday night at Schaeffer Park.
WT struck early and often in game one with four runs in the bottom of the first inning highlighted by a two-run home run by Kaisha Dacosin. The Buffs continued to put pressure on the Lions with five more runs in the bottom of the second. This time it was Allie Cranfill doing the damage with a three-run blast for the Buffs.
The Lions threatened in the top of the third inning when
Tyler Oppenheim led off with a single. Oppenheim stole second and
Magen Lynch and
Luci Ponce each drew two out walks. But WT avoided trouble when starting pitcher Rita Hokianga worked out of the jam with a grounder to second.
WT kept the scoring going with two-run homer by Renee Erwin as the Buffs took an 11-0 lead after three innings.
Neither team scored in the fourth, but the Lions bats came to life in the top of the fifth.
Baylea Higgs led off with an infield single and Lynch followed with a sac bunt to move Higgs to second. Ponce walked and Rivers came to the dish with one out. December drove a ball into right center plating both Higgs and Ponce to notch the first runs of the games for A&M-Commerce.
Aundria Zunigia-Romero followed with a single to right field, and
Brenda Iparraguirre drove in Zunigia-Romero's pinch runner,
Danielle Guerra, with a RBI double into right center cutting the WT lead down to 11-4 and keeping the Lions alive.
However, the Buffs loaded the bases with and ended the game when Dacosin was hit by a pitch to give WT the 12-4 win after five innings.
Emma Neuweiler was saddled with the loss for the Lions after giving up four runs, three earned, and not recording an out in the first. Hokianga picked up the win for the Buffs after four and a third innings of work with six strikeouts.
In game two, the Lions struck first with a two-out two-run blast over the left centerfield fence off the bat of
December Rivers. It was Rivers fourth home run of the season for the slugger.
WT answered the bell with a two-RBI single Dacosin to tie the game at two.
A&M-Commerce starter,
Courtney Moore, settled in and retired the side with a strike. Moore settled in and struck out four batters over the next three innings to keep the game tied at two through four innings.
Higgs broke the tie in the top of the fifth beating out an infield single with two outs to score
Monica Cherry, who reached on a walk.
In the home half of the fifth, the Buffs strung together back-to-back singles with one out. The runners moved to second and third on a deep fly ball to left. After an intentional walk, Lacey Taylor poked ball down the leftfield line by the diving Lion outfielder. Taylor worked her way around to triple with the ball in the corner and scored when the throw to the plate go away. The four-run knock gave WT a 6-3 lead. But the Buffs were not finished. WT tacked on three more with a three-run homer by Allie Cranfill.
The Lions could not overcome the deficit and WT added one more run in the sixth inning to give the game the final score of 10-3.
Moore was saddled with the loss after four and a third innings of work. She allowed six hits, seven runs, six earned, and struck out five batters.
Lynch finished a perfect 3-for-3 in the game, while Higgs had two hits in four trips to the plate.
The two teams will complete the LSC series Saturday with a doubleheader slated for 1 p.m. at Schaeffer Park.
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