CANYON – The Tarleton TexAnn softball team will return to action this weekend at No. 18 West Texas A&M in a three-game Lone Star Conference South Division series in Canyon. 

The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, April 9 at 1 p.m. before a single game on Saturday, April 10 at 1 p.m.

Tarleton is 18-17 overall and 3-3 in the South Division after sweeping Eastern New Mexico last weekend.

Julie Norris leads the TexAnns at the plate with a .363 batting average and 41 hits. Victoria Kelly (.357) also has 41 hits to share the lead in the category while Arianna Rodriguez (.352) leads the squad with 28 runs batted in. Rebecca Wessels (.348) and April Gonzalez (.313) are also hitting above the .300-mark. The TexAnns are hitting .306 as a squad to an opponents' earned run average of 3.42.

Norris also leads the team in the circle with a 12-10 record. She has a 2.37 ERA in 141.2 innings of work. Norris has allowed 32 walks while striking out 87 batters and holding opponents to a .240 batting average. Brandie Simmons is 1-0 with a 1.75 ERA in 12.0 innings of work while Katie Smith is 5-7 with a 4.46 ERA. She has pitched 80.0 innings and allowed 18 walks while striking out 36. The TexAnns have a combined ERA of 3.06 as opponents are hitting .270.

The nationally-ranked Lady Buffaloes are coming off a doubleheader sweep of Central Oklahoma on Tuesday after the team took two-of-three from Angelo State last weekend in San Angelo.

WTAMU is 32-13 overall and 6-3 in the LSC South Division. The team is led by Kaitlyn Witte with a .424 batting average while both Kasey Henderson (.405) and Amber Farr (.359) have 60 hits apiece to lead the team. Kristina Myles (.374) is third on the team in batting as nine players are batting above the .500-mark. The team is batting .342 and opponents have an ERA of 6.00.

Shelbey Cockrell leads the team with a 4-0 record and 1.74 ERA. She has pitched 52.1 innings and walked 29 while striking out 80. Marci Womack leads the team in wins with a 12-6 record. She had a 3.15 ERA in 100.0 innings of work. She has 22 walks and 50 strikeouts. The Lady Buffs have used six different pitchers this season and have a combined ERA of 3.43 while opponents are hitting .300.

Tarleton leads the all-time series between the two schools that started in 2006, 11-3. Tarleton won two of the three games last season.