COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team will host Texas Woman's University in the three-game series to finish the regular season. The Pioneers are the sixth ranked team in the region, while the Lions are ranked ninth. A&M-Commerce is still vying for the final spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (32-18, 14-13 LSC) vs. Texas Woman's (31-16, 17-9 LSC)
WHERE: John Cain Family Softball Complex in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Friday, April 28 at 3 and 5 p.m., Sunday, April 30 at 3 p.m.
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The Lions are coming off of a two-game sweep of Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday. The Lions were lead by pitcher Katie Dean, who had an impressive day. She pitched two complete-game shutouts, gave up just one hit in each game, and struck out 11 batters. Head coach Richie Bruister was proud of his sophomore pitcher's production.
 
"We needed to start with great pitching and we got that from Katie," he said. "I'm very proud of her. She needed that to boost her confidence going in. She had a no-hitter going into the seventh and we almost made a great defensive play at first but broke up the no-hitter. With not throwing a lot of pitches and her being hot, we were going to stay with her as long as she could go and obviously she did great in both games."
 
The Lion offense struggled in game one of the series. It was the Lion defense that set the tone. Players made diving stops and tough scoops on grounders to keep base runners off the path. A home run from Mariah Jameyson was all the offense needed. Bruister was happy his defense stayed strong through both games.
 
"They have been there all year for us," he said. "We are leading the conference in fielding percentage. I'm really proud of what our defense represents and the hard work they have put in this year to keep us in the ball games. They certainly did that, any time you have a 0-0 ball game going into the seventh inning. Then Mariah has been big for us all year and stepped up and hit the solo home run to put us up 1-0. And of course Katie went out there and pitched great in the bottom of the seventh to close it out."
 
The Lion bats started game two on fire. Vanessa Avina had a leadoff double and Kinsie Hebler drove her in to give the Lions a lead early. Bruister said the early run sparked the hitters, who went on to score five runs on 12 hits.
 
"They knew the importance of the ball games," Bruister said of his players. "We needed to go out and score some runs in game two. Vanessa started that off with a leadoff double and that got us going. Kinsie got the RBI to score early in the game. Everybody relaxed and went out and did their thing. It was really good to see the offense come to life. It had been a little slow in the previous four games. It was good to put up 12 hits in game two."
 
The Lions will now host TWU in a three-game series over the weekend. The Pioneers are in fourth place in the conference standings and are the sixth ranked team in the South Central Region. Bruister knows his team faces a tough opponent to close out the regular season.
 
"They are led by their pitching," he said of TWU. "Abby Walker does a good job and Tori Bice does a good job for them. They are a well-balanced team. They run the bases well and play good defense. They are a very good team. They are ranked No. 6 in the region for a reason. They have gotten good wins. We are No. 9 in the region so it is going to be a big battle for those regional rankings. And obviously the conference standings as well."
 
The Lions are in sixth place in the LSC standings but could move as high as fifth or as low as seventh, with six teams advancing to the conference tournament. With six teams in the conference also in the regional standings, this is Bruister's favorite time of year. He knows there is still a lot on the line for his team and knows his players need to be prepared and perform.
 
"This is the Lone Star Conference at its best," he said. That's why we are, in most of our opinions, the best conference in the country. Because it comes down to the last weekend. People are fighting for regional championships, players of the year, All-Conference nominations. All of those things come into this last weekend. We are looking forward to that. On paper, it's two evenly matched teams. They could win all three from us. We could win all three from them. It is going to be an all-out battle, Lone Star Conference style."