The West Texas A&M softball team hosted their annual WT Invitational tournament this weekend at Schaeffer Park, rolling through the tournament with six mercy rule wins.

The Lady Buffs outscored their opponents 55-4, highlighted by 11 home runs, as they brought their record up to 11-0 on the season.

“It was a great event,” head coach Kevin Blaskowski said. “We had great weather and good teams come in. We were able to create a great experience for our fans and the kids played hard for all six games and you can’t ask for more than that.”

On Friday, the Lady Buffs opened up with a 6-0 win over Fort Lewis. Junior pitcher Kilee Halbert led the charge by tossing a complete game shutout and senior third basemen Shea Ibrahim recorded three hits in as many at bats, including a three-run home run.

“I feel like we came out strong from the beginning [Friday] and we put a lot of runs on the board,” Ibrahim said. “Everyone seems to be finding themselves at the plate.”

The Lady Buffs then continued play against Washburn for the next two games. Ibrahim snagged her second home run of the day and Alexis Alfonso only allowed three hits in the 8-0 five-inning win. They finished the Ichabods in five innings again later that night 9-0 thanks in part to a three-run bomb by freshman Shanna McBroom and a shutout from sophomore Shayne Starkey.

“It definitely takes a lot of pressure off [the batters] when we’ve got a pitcher that’s confident in the circle and can just control the game,” Ibrahim said.

On Saturday, the Lady Buffs played three different teams, but got almost identical results. With three wins, they finished the weekend to then move up two spots from fourth on the NFCA national poll to second place.

“I felt the games we played this weekend demonstrated both our ability to take down teams and the amount of potential we have in order to be a phenomenal team,” sophomore Chelsea Skipper said.

Blaskowski said he likes to see the team coming together the way that they are.

“I think we are competing,” Blaskowski said. “Kids are playing hard. We’re learning to execute in key situations and we are developing a lot of confidence and character. I mean, the kids are playing really hard and everybody is contributing up and down the lineup. People aren’t trying to do too much and that’s huge.”

WT is not changing their mindset anytime soon though.

“We are going to continue to work on our approach at the plate, continue to get better offensively, keep working on the things we have to do defensively and be able to play situational defense,” Blaskowski said. “Our pitchers are going to keep working on what they’re working on. It’s not like we are going to stop working on anything. We are going to keep working on all parts of the game so we can continue on getting better.”