LSC Roundup 3-18

Gerlich, Lady Buffs 'find a way'
West Texas A&M's Lady Buffs overcame more adversity this season than they might have imagined in order to reach the Division II Elite Eight for the third time.

They lost All-American Emily Brister on Feb. 11 to a knee injury that ended her brilliant career, then lost their final two regular season games before traveling to Bartlesville, Okla., for the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament.

Third-year head coach Krista Gerlich kept telling her team they were still good enough to overcome those circumstances, and they responded by winning six consecutive games to qualify for next week's national tournament in San Antonio that begins Tuesday.

''Our motto has been 'find a way,''' said Gerlich after the Lady Buffs defeated LSC rival Central Oklahoma, 65-52, on Monday in front of a partisan crowd of 2,602 at the First United Bank Center in the championship game of the South Central Region tournament.

''This team has gone through a lot this season,'' Gerlich said. ''And they've responded great.''


Buffs erupt in 6th inning to beat OPSU
West Texas A&M busted open a tie game with a seven-run sixth inning and cruised past Oklahoma Panhandle State 15-4 in nonconference college baseball Tuesday before 75 fans at Amarillo National Bank Dilla Villa.

The Buffs (12-18) ended the game by the 10-run rule with two outs in the eighth inning on Joe Inzone's grand slam, one of WT's 19 hits.

Javelinas top Dust Devils
KINGSVILLE — The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team scored runs in six of the first seven innings of the game en route to an easy 14-5 non-conference victory over visiting Texas A&M International on Tuesday night at Nolan Ryan Field.

The Javelinas (10-16) pounded out 14 hits on the evening as eight of the nine starters in the lineup had at least one hit. The team was very close to 10-run ruling the Dust Devils (10-14), but the game lasted the full nine innings.

MSU salvages split with 12-2 win over ECU
Midwestern State erupted for six runs in the first inning to coast to a 12-2 run-rule of East Central in the second game of a doubleheader Tuesday at Mustangs Park.

The win earned a split for Midwestern, which improved to 21-9 on the season and 8-4 in the Lone Star Conference North Division.

Javelinas softball takes two from Jets
KINGSVILLE — Solid pitching and a plethora of offensive stars helped Texas A&M-Kingsville’s softball team snap a two-game losing streak Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of Newman University 6-0 and 9-1 at Hubert Field.

The Javelinas (21-9) dominated the doubleheader from the start to keep the Jets winless at 0-17.

In the first game, senior Courtney Rigamonti (17-5) tossed her first shutout of the season allowing three hits and two walks while striking out 10 batters. In the nightcap, freshman Jessica Schneider (3-4) scattered five hits and struck out two in a six-inning complete-game victory.

WT earns sweep against Fort Hays State
The West Texas A&M softball team nearly pulled off a double shutout in sweeping Fort Hays State in a nonconference doubleheader Tuesday's at Lady Buff Yard.

The Lady Buffs extended their winning streak to six by taking the first game 5-0, then holding off Fort Hays State's five-run seventh inning to win the second game, 7-5.


Skoch grabs reins of WT volleyball program
West Texas A&M hired Jason Skoch as its new head volleyball coach Tuesday. He succeeds Tony Graystone, who left for the head coaching job at Division I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after 10 years at WT.

Skoch, 33, comes from Division II Truman State (Mo.), where he coached the last four years, compiling a record of 137-22 (.861 percent) with his team ranked in the top 25 every week of his tenure.

"Jason set himself apart as the top candidate in our field. My obligation is to hire the best available coaches I can, and his track record, his reputation, his recruiting plan and new ideas set him apart. I just felt like he's the best fit for our program at this time,'' WT athletics director Michael McBroom said. "Taking over this program is not an easy job with all the expectations, but he's done it at Truman and his experience certainly was a factor in this decision."