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In an important series for the No. 24 Lady Buffs, they took on Incarnate Word for a three-game series at home last weekend.
WTAMU dominated the Cardinals in the first game. The Lady Buffs recorded their first run in the bottom of the third off an Allie Cranfill blast. The team wouldn’t look back, getting two more runs in the fifth and making the highlights with five runs to end the game in the sixth inning. The team ended with a shutout against IWU 8-0 with Marci Womack picking up the win with just three hits.
The second game would again be the Cranfill show as she recorded her ninth home run of the season to bring Lacy Seidl and Alyssa Lemos home in the second for a 3-0 lead. The Lady Buffs got a five-run lead before the Cardinals got their first run to take the score to 5-1 in the top of the fourth. However, the Lady Buffs used the seven innings to take the game 7-4. Womack would get her 13th win of the season, only giving up seven hits and two walks.
Saturday afternoon the Lady Buff Yard saw the team attempt a shut out of Incarnate Word, but the game didn’t go as planned. The Cardinals started the scoring in the third and scored in the next two innings to take the lead to 3-0. The sixth inning had no scoring, but IWU put three more runs on the board in the top of the seventh.
The Lady Buffs made a tremendous comeback at the bottom of the seventh when Renee Erwin plated Whitney Midkiff for their first run of the game. Two batters later, Lacey Seidl sent one to center field to score two more runs. However, the Lady Buffs fell short in the last game of the series, ending with a score of 6-3. Amber Spencer picked up the loss in the circle, allowing 11 hits.
“This was a very important weekend,” Outfielder Lacey Seidl said. “We had the same record coming in [as IWU] and I think we played very well. Marci pitched both games very well but then again, we strung hits together and we played as a team.”
The series took the softball team’s record to 25-15 overall and 9-9 in the Lone Star Conference. They return to the field on April 10 against Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M. at 3 p.m.
“These last few weekends are going to be crucial, especially this coming up week,” Seidl said. “We’re on the road and as our record shows, we’ve been struggling on the road so it’s important we come out and play like we can play. We can’t just go off and slack it, especially with Eastern. We have to win no matter what.”
