CANYON, Texas -- Midwestern State came painfully close to taking down No. 22-ranked West Texas A&M Friday night at Schaeffer Park.

But the Lady Buffs scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to come away with a 7-6 win in Game 2 complete a doubleheader sweep of the Mustangs. WT claimed the opener in a 15-7 run-rule in six innings.

Midwestern State was on the brink of snapping a 23-game slide against nationally ranked opponents and on the verge of beating the Lady Buffs for the first time since 2014.

The Mustangs took control of Game 2 by scoring in five consecutive inning to take a 6-4 lead into the final frame.

Senior Payton Griffin put MSU on the board with her third homer of the season in the second inning, then Hanna Hetherington and Bailey Brenek delivered back-to-back, run-scoring singles to stake the Mustangs to a 3-1 lead in the third.

West Texas A&M's Gabriella Valforte answered with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 3-3.

But Midwestern State continued to pour on the offense with Hetherington connecting on her 12th home run of the season in the fifth inning while Peyton Lee tacked on runs with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a run-scoring single up the middle in the sixth.

Ruby Salzman led off the seventh inning with a home run for WT, then Diana Murtha followed a Valforte walk with a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third.

West Texas A&M then pulled of a successful suicide squeeze allowing one run to score and Julie Guzman to reach on the sacrifice. One pitch later, Sydney Greeson lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Murtha with the winning run.

MSU's Kennedy Cameron was saddled with the loss to fall to 4-11 in the circle. The sophomore allowed four earned runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

West Texas A&M's Brittni Rufus went 4-for-5 with a home run and four stolen bases, while Greeson drove in four more runs to help the Lady Buffs to a 15-7 win in Game 1.

Hetherington connected on the first of two homers in the twin bill in the top of the first inning, while Griffin went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Mikey Dominguez had two hits of her own to lead MSU's 10-hit attack.

Midwestern State takes on Eastern New Mexico in a Lone Star Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at the Greyhound Softball Field. First pitches are slated for 1 and 3 p.m. (Central Time).

NOTABLES

- Junior Bailey Brenek extended her season-best hitting streak to eight games collecting singles in each game of the doubleheader. She is hitting .478 (11-for-23) with three homers during the streak.
- Sophomore Hanna Hetherington connected on her 11th and 12th home runs of the season and matched a season high with three hits in Game 2 against West Texas A&M. Her 12 home runs are the most since Carli Woolsey hit 12 long balls in 2019.
- Freshman Mikey Dominguez recorded two hits in both games against West Texas A&M and now has nine multiple-hit games this season.
- Senior Payton Griffin has hits in each of her last three games (4-for-9) including her third homer of the season in Saturday's nightcap at West Texas A&M.
- Redshirt-freshman Peyton Lee has driven in runs in five of her last six games.
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