WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- The Highway 287 rivalry is renewed this week at Mustangs Park as No. 2-ranked West Texas A&M (14-1, 6-0) visits Midwestern State (2-16, 0-9). The three-game series begins Tuesday at 5 p.m. and continues with a doubleheader on Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

Midwestern State's offense erupted in the second inning against Cameron on Sunday with six runs on five hits, including a three-run homer from freshman right fielder Paige Gallegos. The Mustangs also scored twice in the sixth inning with Gallegos and Allie Monroe hitting back-to-back RBI doubles. The Aggies used a five-run first inning and a seven-run seventh inning to take the final game of the series, 15-8, completing a three-game sweep.

Monroe is hitting .345 with four multi-hit games and leads the Mustangs with a .618 slugging percentage. Monroe has four doubles and three home runs. The sophomore from Lawton, Oklahoma, leads the team and is ninth in the conference with 16 RBIs, surpassing her total from last season. Monroe had an RBI double, and RBI triple during the series against Cameron. The left-hand hitting slugger has 34 total bases, which is 12th-most in the LSC.

Nunez, a senior shortstop, has a five-game hitting streak and is hitting .263 for the season. The Californian has reached base in 15 of 18 games and has four doubles for the Mustangs. Nunez has 34 put outs and a team-leading 42 assists on 85 chances at shortstop. The transfer from Texas A&M-Commerce has turned five double plays for the Mustangs, who are second in the conference and seventh in the nation with eight twin killings through 18 games.

Gallegos is hitting .256 through 18 games. The right fielder was 2-for-9 with a double, a home run and five RBIs in the three-game series against Cameron. The native of Iowa Park, Texas, is second on the team with 10 RBIs.

Maegan Shannon, a sophomore from Frisco, Texas, has started 15 games at third base and is hitting .256 with 11 singles and two RBIs. Shannon has only committed two errors on 51 chances at the hot corner.

Megan Ayala has been the starting catcher for 16 games this season and has committed just one error with four passed balls. She has thrown out five of 13 potential base stealers. At the plate, the sophomore from Denton, Texas, is hitting .243 with three RBIs for the Mustangs.

Kennedy Cameron (0-4), a senior pitcher from Longview, Texas, has made six starts for Midwestern State this season and has a 3.39 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .211 against Cameron, who has allowed 24 hits over 31 innings. The right-hander has walked 26 batters and struck out 29. Cameron threw a complete game three-hitter against the Aggies, but the Mustangs lost, 3-0.

Freshman pitcher Addison Lindemann (0-5) from Holliday, Texas, leads the pitching staff and is ninth in the conference with 31 strikeouts through 43 1/3 innings. Lindemann has made eight appearances with five starts and has a 4.36 ERA. She has allowed 50 hits with 19 walks and 27 earned runs. Lindemann has thrown three complete games. Lindemann has contributed offensively, going 4-for-16 at the plate with a double and three RBIs.

Freshman pitcher Elizabeth Uhl (1-4) from Arvada, Colorado, has a 4.82 ERA through 20 1/3 innings, allowing 14 earned runs on 24 hits with eight walks and nine strikeouts. Her longest outing of the season came at Mustangs Park, where she lasted 6 2/3 innings and took a hard-luck 4-2 loss to East Central, which plated three unearned runs in the seventh inning.

Sydney Gonzales (1-1) has been effective as a relief pitcher for the Mustangs. Gonzales has made eight appearances with one start and thrown 11 2/3 innings, allowing 10 hits and six earned runs. The sophomore from Lenorah, Texas, has a 3.60 ERA and is holding opponents to a .233 batting average. She has issued 13 walks with three strikeouts.

West Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Midwestern State, 35-22, and has won the last 25 meetings. Midwestern State has not beaten the Buffaloes since a 12-11 victory in the 2014 NCAA Division II South Central Region 1 Championships at Schaeffer Park. Last season, the Lady Buffs shut out MSU twice and won two games via the run rule, outscoring the Mustangs in the three games at Schaeffer Park , 27-2.

The Lady Buffs are making their first appearance at MSU since April of 2021, when WT swept a doubleheader, 5-1 and 5-2.

West Texas A&M (14-1, 6-0) has a 10-game winning streak and swept UT Permian Basin in their only three road games this season. The Lady Buffs outscored the Falcons, 26-0, in the three-game series at Falcon Field in Odessa, Texas, this past weekend.

West Texas A&M opened conference play by sweeping No. 6-ranked UT Tyler in a three-game series at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas.

The Lady Buffs have scored 139 runs, which leads the LSC and is fifth-most among NCAA Division II programs.

As a team, WT is second in the conference and ninth in the nation with a .368 batting average, and the Lady Buffs are slugging .583 with 30 doubles, eight triples and 14 home runs.

Diana Murtha, a senior infielder from Summerlin, Nevada, is leading the conference and fifth in the nation with a .697 batting average. She is 23-for-33 with eight doubles, one triple and five home runs. Murtha leads the conference in home runs and has the 15th-most among NCAA Division II sluggers. Murtha is fourth in the conference and ninth in the nation with 23 RBIs. She has the second-best on-base percentage in NCAA Division II softball at .804. Murtha's slugging percentage of 1.455 leads the LSC and is fourth-best in the nation. Murtha also has five stolen bases on seven attempts.

Murtha was 3-for-7 with a solo homer and scored five runs against the Mustangs last season. For her career, Murtha is hitting .462 (6-for-13) versus MSU pitching with a double, triple and a home run. She has three RBIs and eight runs scored over five games against the Mustangs.

Brittni Rufus, a senior outfielder from Mansfield, Texas, had three hits in each of her first three games this season and went 4-for-4 against Colorado State-Pueblo in the WT Invitational on Feb. 10. Rufus has the third-most hits in the LSC with 25, and she is fifth in the conference with a .490 batting average as well as a .559 on-base percentage. She leads the Lady Buffs and is second in the LSC with eight stolen bases on 10 attempts.

West Texas A&M is second in the conference and 21st in the nation with 34 stolen bases on 41 attempts.

Rufus is hitting .571 (8-for-14) with a home run, three RBIs, six runs scored and is 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts over five career games against the Mustangs.

Sophomore catcher Lauren Granger from Minnetonka, Minnesota, has a seven-game hitting streak and was 5-for-10 with three doubles against UTPB over the weekend. Granger has seven doubles and a triple with six RBIs this season. Granger is eighth in the conference with a .442 batting average and seventh in the league with a .529 on-base percentage.

Junior pitcher Heidi Vortherms (7-0) from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is only allowing 4.2 hits per seven innings, which is third-best among pitchers in the LSC, and she has the fourth-best ERA in the conference at 1.28. Vortherms is second in the league with 54 strikeouts, which is 17th-most in the nation, and she is averaging 9.9 strikeouts per seven innings pitched. Vortherms has thrown three complete games for the Lady Buffs, including two against UT Tyler. Opponents are hitting .170 against the right-hander, who has thrown 38 1/3 innings this season and only issued 10 walks.

Sophomore hurler Emilee Boyer (7-1) from Harrisburg, South Dakota, who was the LSC Freshman of the Year last season and was an All-American, has made eight starts for WT and has a 2.53 ERA, striking out 36 batters while walking 10 over 38 2/3 innings. She is holding opponents to a .242 batting average. Boyer is also a threat at the plate. She is hitting .289 (13-for-45) and is third on the team with 14 RBIs. Boyer has a double and three home runs for the Lady Buffs.

Freshman Ashley Mandell for Lindstrom, Minnesota, has made 10 relief appearances for WT and has thrown 16 innings. Mandell has 15 strikeouts and has only allowed 13 hits. Opponents are hitting .213 against the right-hander, who has only issued three walks this season. Mandell has the ninth-best ERA in the LSC at 1.75.

Michael Mook is the third head coach in the history of WT softball. He came to West Texas A&M after four highly successful seasons at Valley City State, where his teams were 154-61 (.716). Mook led the Lady Buffs to the 2021 NCAA Division II National Championship. The Lady Buffs finished last season with a 50-8 record (.862). WT is 150-46 (.765) since Mook took the reins in 2020.

Brittanie Talley is beginning her third season as the head coach at Midwestern State and is the third coach in the history of the program. Talley amassed a 129-75 record (.632) over five seasons at Vernon College earning Texoma NexStar Small College Coach of the Year honors in 2021 after leading the Chaps to a 42-12 mark and advancing to the NJCAA regional tournament.

Prior to Vernon College, Talley played a role in a successful three-year run at Alabama State helping the Lady Hornets to a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) title and a trip to NCAA Division I regionals in 2016.

Talley competed professionally for the Skovde Saints winning a Swedish championship as the league's pitcher of the year in 2011. While in Sweden, she served as the pitching coach for the Swedish National Team in the European Championships calling pitches and working with hitters.

Talley enjoyed a standout collegiate career at Jackson State where she earned second-team All-SWAC honors earning 27 career wins while posting seven shutouts. She also boasted a .320 batting average in 172 career at bats.

Midwestern State is on the road to face UT Permian Basin in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday. The doubleheader on Saturday gets underway at 2 p.m., and the game on Sunday starts at noon. The Mustangs return home on March 8 to host UT Tyler in a three-game series.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--