by ST. GEORGE, Utah – West Texas A&M sophomore center fielder Ashley Hardin hit two monster homeruns and drove in five RBI as the #22 Lady Buffs finish the 2016 Dixie State Invitational unbeaten with a 13-2 rout of Fort Lewis in a five-inning run rule win on Super Bowl Sunday at the Canyons Softball Complex in St. George, Utah. The Lady Buffs move to 5-0 on the season while the Skyhawks fall to 1-3 overall.
The Lady Buffs connected on their eighth homerun of the weekend to start the game as Ashley Hardin took a 0-1 offering with two outs deep to center field to drive in Stacey Ramirez (Standing Rock Sioux) and Lacey Taylor for the early 3-0 lead. WT’s Alexis Alfonso went easily threw the top of the Fort Lewis order with a pair of groundouts followed by a flyout to Hardin in center as the Lady Buffs took the
3-0 lead into the second.
The Skyhawks looked to cut into the lead in the home half of the second as they started the inning with two straight base hits followed by an RBI single to center field by Nikki Klepfer, Fort Lewis wasn’t done yet as a Lauren Caldwell ground ball double play scored Mandy Owens from third base to cut the lead to 3-2 after two complete innings of play. FLC looked to tie the game in the third with a leadoff single up the middle before a lindrive to Shayne Starkey at first base turned into an easy double play followed by an unassisted groundout to the freshman from Denton to end the frame at 3-2.
Hardin walked on a full count to start the fourth inning followed by a Starkey single thru the right side to put runners on first and second with no outs, Alyssa Montoya (Standing Rock Sioux) singled to center field in her first career start as a Lady Buff to load the bases followed by an Andrea Sitter RBI groundout to second base to make it 4-2. Brittany Cruz singled to left center to drive in a pair of runs followed by a flyout to center field for the second out before Shea Ibrahim worked a count full and eventually walked to load the bases again followed by a Lacey Taylor grand slam to right center field on a 3-2 offering to run the score to 10-2 and force a FLC pitching change. Hardin welcomed the new Skyhawk in style as the sophomore blasted a solo shot to right field on the first pitch she saw followed by a Starkey walk on four straight balls before a groundout ended the inning with WT leading 11-2.
Emilee Baker registered her first collegiate hit to start the fifth inning with a single to center field followed by Tiffanie Bolanos singling to left for her first hit in Maroon & White to put runners on first and second with no outs, a strikeout gave the Skyhawks the first out of the fifth followed by a Kourtney Coveney walk to load the bases followed by a Briana Garza walk to score a run and make it 12-2. The second out came on an infield popup followed by a Hardin single thru the left side for her fifth RBI of the game to give WT the 13-2 lead heading to the bottom of the fifth.
Alfonso picked up the win (2-0) in the circle for the Lady Buffs as the Tucson native gave up two runs (both earned) on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts in the complete game victory as she threw 65 total pitches.
The Lady Buffs open up their home schedule next weekend as they host the WT Invitational on Friday, Saturday and Sunday inside of the Buffalo Sports Complex at Schaeffer Park. WT will take on Fort Lewis (4 p.m.) and Chadron State (2:30 p.m.) on Friday.
The Lady Buffs have turned Schaeffer Park in Canyon into one of the top home environments in all of NCAA Division II Softball. WT is 141-26 (.844) at Schaeffer Park since the facility opened prior to the 2011 season including 55-12 (.821) during regular season Lone Star Conference games in Canyon. 2015 marked the fourth time in the last five years (’11, ’13, ’14, ’15) that the Lady Buffs hosted NCAA Postseason action in Canyon.
