Lady Buffs Split on Day One Of Lady Buff Invitational

AMARILLO, Texas – On a sunny day at Amarillo’s Southeast Softball Complex, the West Texas A&M softball team split a pair of games during the opening day of the 2008 Holiday Inn Lady Buff Invitational. The Lady Buffs dropped a 6-4 decision to New Mexico Highlands on Friday before returning to action in the day’s late game and defeating Southwestern Oklahoma, 7-2.

WT (8-5) will be among four teams competing for the tournament championship in Saturday’s gold bracket, which will kick off at 11 a.m. when the Lady Buffs take on Northeastern State. Following the NSU contest, regardless of the outcome, WT will take the field at 3 p.m.

Game #1 Recap (New Mexico Highlands 6, West Texas A&M 4)

The tournament opener got off on the right foot for the Lady Buffs as in the second at bat of the game, sophomore Amber Farr tripled down the right field line. Freshman third baseman Audrey Wallace plated Farr in the next at bat with a single, allowing the Lady Buffs to take a 1-0 lead after one frame.

The Cowgirls battled back to take a 3-1 advantage as they scored a run in the bottom of the third and followed with a pair of unearned tallies in the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, the Lady Buffs were able to tie the game at 3-3 as both junior centerfielder Rachel Cavallaro and Farr each stole a base and scored on separate Highlands throwing errors in the inning.

The stalemate was short-lived, however, as the Cowgirls took advantage of a WT error in the bottom of the fifth and tagged Lady Buff starter Andrea Renteria with three unearned runs to take a 6-3 advantage.

Junior second baseman Erin Hartigan scored on a Farr RBI single in the top of the seventh but that was the only rally WT could made against New Mexico Highlands pitcher Dominique Gonzales, who closed the door to preserve the victory.

Game #2 Recap (West Texas A&M 7, Southwestern Oklahoma State 2)

Freshman pitcher Shannon O’Dea scattered seven hits and limited the Bulldogs to only two runs in the Lady Buffs’ second game of the day to pick up her team-leading fourth win of the season.

As it had in the day’s opener, WT was able to strike first but instead of putting only one run on the board, the Lady Buffs exploded to put up a five-spot in the top of the second inning.

The first score came off the bat of Brytany Lemon, who plated Breanna Adams with a single to left field. A SWOSU error at the end of the play allowed Wallace to score a second run. A hard-hit ball from Farr glanced off the pitcher’s glove to drive in another run before freshman Christie Russell scored two more with a two-run double up the middle.

The Bulldogs attempted to come from behind, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third, but O’Dea was able to limit the damage.

Wallace again made an impression on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh as she slammed the first home run of her Lady Buff career, a two-run shot that cleared the wall in left center.