CANYON, Texas – The top ranked Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M connected on two big homeruns in the first inning and never looked back as they finished the afternoon with five bombs on their way to their third overall and second straight Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship with a 9-3 win over Texas Woman's on Saturday afternoon in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs run their win streak to 16 games as they improve to 52-2 while the Pioneers fall to 32-22.
 
The Lady Buffs used the long ball to take the early lead in the home half of the first inning as Shea Ibrahim crushed a ball the other way on top of the black monster to score Andrea Sitter who has walked earlier in the inning, WT wasn't done yet as Ashley Hardin continued her hot weekend with a solo bomb to left for the early 3-0 lead.
 
WT continued to roll in the bottom of the third inning as they blew the game open with Ibrahim's second homerun of the game with a three run shot down the left field line on top of the batting cages for the 6-0 lead with no outs, Lacey Taylor singled to left center followed two batters later by an Allie Smith two-run blast to left center field to run the lead to 8-0. The Pioneers wouldn't go down without a fight as they capitalized on a WT error with one out in the fourth to score a pair of runs followed by an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 8-3.
 
Hardin cemented her place as the tournament's Most Valuable Player in the home half of the fifth inning as the sophomore outfielder from Flower Mound connected on her fourth homerun of the weekend including her second of the game to the deepest part of the park in right center field as the Lady Buffs took the 9-3 lead. That was more than enough for the LSC Pitcher of the Year Kilee Halbert who picked up the win (22-1) for the Lady Buffs, giving up three runs (none earned) on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts in her 16^th complete game of the season.
 
The Lady Buffs will hear their postseason fate on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. CT as 64-team field for the 2016 NCAA Division II Softball Postseason will be announced via an online selection show at NCAA.com. WT is the top team in the regional and will host a four-team double-elimination South Central Regional Tournament at Schaeffer Park next Thursday-Saturday, stay tuned to GoBuffsGo.com for game times and matchups.

2016 LSC Softball Championship All-Tournament Team
Katy Stephens, TWU
Laura Mabary, TWU
Shea Ibrahim, WT
Ciara Sheppard, ASU
Nicole Nordie, TWU
Katelyn Vinson, MSU
Baylee Voigt, MSU
Andrea Sitter, WT
Brandy Marlett, ASU
Katie Hickey, TWU
Kilee Halbert, WT
Allie Smith, WT
Ashley Hardin, WT - MVP