CANYON – No. 20 Tarleton dropped its first two games of Lone Star Conference action Friday night to No. 1 West Texas A&M at Schaeffer Park.
Â
Game 1: No. 1 West Texas A&M 10, No. 20 Tarleton 2 (6)
Â
A pair of big innings proved too much for Tarleton to overcome as the Lady Buffs scored five in the fourth and four in the sixth to take the first game of Friday's twin bill 10-2 in six innings.
Â
Melody Mayse started the series off with a walk to lead off the top of the first. The senior from Grandview came around to score three batters later on a
Nyka Wood RBI sacrifice for a 1-0 Tarleton lead in the middle of the first inning. Wood finished the game 1-for-2 with one of Tarleton's seven hits on the night.
Â
After WT tied the game with a run in the bottom of the second, the 1-1 tie carried into the fourth inning before West Texas A&M put up a five spot to take a 6-1 lead.
Â
The TexAnns started to chip away with one in the ensuing half inning on an RBI, bases-loaded walk from
Rebeka Allen to cut into the lead. That is all Tarleton could get, however, as back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat. An inning later, West Texas A&M ended things early with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 10-2.
Â
In addition to Wood's hit, Tarleton got two-hit performances from Mayse and
Katelyn Conlee as well as base hits from
Savannah Stech and
Lauren Powers to round out Tarleton's offense.
Â
Game 2: No. 1 West Texas A&M 5, No. 20 Tarleton 4
Â
In the nightcap, Tarleton took a 4-3 lead in the fifth but could not hold on as West Texas A&M scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh with two outs to claim a walk-off win in game two.
Â
Once again, Tarleton got the scoring started early with a two-run home run from
Katelyn Conlee in the first inning. After
Shelby Hedrick sat the Lady Buffs down in the first inning, Tarleton extended its lead to three with a
Taylor Fitzgerald solo home run to left field.
Â
The Lady Buffs tacked on one run each over the next three innings to even the score, but the TexAnn offense retook the lead in the top of the fifth when
Nyka Wood delivered an RBI single up the middle to play Mayse. Tarleton carried its 4-3 lead into the seventh, even after
Haley Freyman danced out of trouble in the sixth inning with a fielder's choice, run-saving out at the plate from Fitzgerald to Wood.
Â
However, a pair of walks and a single set up a two-out, two-RBI single for West Texas to send the TexAnns to their second loss of the night.
Â
Tarleton scored four runs on five hits with one hit each coming from Mayse, Stech, Conlee, Wood, and Fitzgerald.
Â
The teams will retake the field tomorrow at 3 p.m. for the final two games of the series.
