Kevin Blaskowski picked up career win No. 800 just one year after capturing his 400th with the program.
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M head coach Kevin Blaskowski picked up career wins No. 800 and 801 while the Lady Buffs ran their home wins streak to 20 games on Saturday afternoon with a pair of Lone Star Conference wins over rival Midwestern State in a Highway 287 Challenge doubleheader at Schaeffer Park in Canyon. The Lady Buffs move to 25-6 (10-4 LSC) overall while the Mustangs fall to 14-19 (5-12 LSC) on the seasons.
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Blaskowski becomes the 26th head coach in Division II history to reach the 800-victory plateau while being just the 12th active DII coach to reach the milestone. Blaskowski has led the Lady Buffs to five Lone Star Conference championships, three Regional titles, two Super Regional championships and a pair of appearances in the NCAA Division II College World Series including the 2014 DII national championship. Blaskowski holds a career record of 801-518 (.607) in his 25 years of collegiate coaching including a 449-241 (.651) mark during the last 12 seasons in Canyon after re-starting the program prior to the 2006 season.
The series finale between the Lady Buffs and Mustangs is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Schaeffer Park in Canyon during Strike Out Cancer Weekend presented by Joe Taco.
Congrats Coach B!!! https://t.co/jV4zqIzKzh
— Lady Buff Softball (@WTSoftball) March 26, 2017
GAME 1 - #12 West Texas A&M 3, Midwestern State 1
The Mustangs started off the scoring in the top of the sixth inning as Erin Knox doubled to center field with one outs and runners on first and second to drive in the game's first run before WT forced a fly out to right and a walk to load the bases before Kilee Halbert's second strikeout of the game ended the inning, 1-0.
Kylee Moore started off the home half of the fourth inning with a double off of the black monster in left field followed by an MSU illegal pitch to move Moore up 60 feet, Shayne Starkey singled to left center to tie the game with no outs, WT took the lead later in the inning on a Shea Ibrahim groundout to first followed by a Kourtney Coveny RBI double to stretch the WT lead to 3-1.
That's all the lead that Halbert would need as the LSC preseason pitcher of the year picked up her 13th complete game of the season (13-3), giving up one run on six hits with four walks and two strikeout in the complete game win.
GAME 2 - #12 West Texas A&M 8, Midwestern State 0 (6 Innings)
Coveney tripled to the deepest part of the park to start the home half of the third inning followed by an Ashley Hardin RBI single and an Allie Smith RBI double to right center for the 2-0 lead. Ibrahim doubled to straight away center field to leadoff the fourth followed by a stolen base and Coveney sac fly for the 3-0 lead.
West Texas A&M wasn't done yet as they added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as Alyx Cordell squeezed home a run followed by an Ibrahim RBI double to right center to run the lead to 5-0. Sierra Gentry singled home a pair of runs with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth before an Ibrahim walkoff RBI single to left center gave the Lady Buffs the run-rule win, 8-0.
Alfonso picked up the win (7-1) in the circle for the Lady Buffs, giving up no runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts in the complete game shutout.
