CANYON, TEXAS – Two of the top Division II softball programs in the country battled it out to a split on Friday evening as #4 West Texas A&M took game one by a 7-5 final and #1 UT Tyler by a 6-5 final in nine innings for the game two victory.
 
The Patriots 6-5 victory in the second game capped off a marathon of an evening of softball in Canyon, Texas in a battle of the preseason no. 1 and no. 2 selected teams in the 2022 Lone Star Conference Softball Preseason Poll in the LSC openers for both sides. UT Tyler was forced to mount a comeback in both efforts, an unsuccessful attempt in the first game after trailing 7-2 through 3.0 complete innings, but eventually completed their second attempt at a comeback in game number two after nine full innings of play.

UT Tyler plated four runs in the top of the seventh of game number two, and ended up needing all four of those runs as West Texas A&M responded with three runs in the bottom half of the frame, to negate a 2-1 advantage in favor of the Lady Buffs entering the seventh inning.  Senior Jacey Henry pinch hit and delivered the tying run on a single to centerfield that scored pinch runner Grace Davis, and ultimately the go-ahead run at the time as well as the Lady Buffs overthrew Henry's attempt at second and allowed sophomore Amanda Marek to come around and score as well.
 
Senior Bayli Simon drove in the additional two runs as part of that four-run rally after putting the ball in play on a full count to force a fielding error by the Lady Buffs that allowed Henry and freshman Maddie Melton to score. West Texas A&M forced extra innings in the ensuing frame after responding to that new 5-2 deficit with three runs of their own.
 
Centerfielder Shannon Klaus ultimately saved the game for UT Tyler on the final play of that inning for the Lady Buffs, as she threw out the winning run from deep centerfield that kept the scored tied at 5-5 and sent the game to extras. Both teams stranded a pair of baserunners in the eighth inning before sophomore Hanna Fradkin drove in Klaus for what would end up being the game-winning run in the top of the ninth on a two-out shot down the leftfield line.
 
Sophomore Sarah Gartman was rock solid in the circle in the eighth and ninth innings to pick up her fourth fifth win of the season for a UT Tyler pitching staff that didn't allow a single earned run in the winning effort. Freshman Kaylee Davis went 2.1 innings before giving way to sophomore Tatum Goff, who struckout nine batters in her 4.2 innings of relief.
 
Gartman came in for the eighth and ninth innings and scattered four hits to strand a pair of runners in the eighth and then left the bases loaded for West Texas A&M in the ninth to close out the 6-5 win for the Patriots. UT Tyler had eight hits in the victory, including multi-hit games from Fradkin, Marek and Klaus.
 
UT Tyler nearly began the day with a comeback after falling behind early to the defending Division II National Champions after West Texas A&M plated six runs in the bottom of the third of game number one to hold a 7-2 lead after 3.0 innings of play. A solo homer from senior Ashley Perez in the second and then an RBI single from Goff in the third gave UT Tyler a 2-1 lead before the monster inning for the Lady Buffs flipped the script and turned the game solely in their favor.
 
That advantage held through the fourth inning before the Patriots closed the gap back to just two runs in the fifth thanks to a two-run homer from Marek and then a single by pinch hitter Lauren Harris that scored Goff. That three-run fifth inning made it 7-5, a mark that would stay true all the way through the sixth and seventh innings as UT Tyler was unable to continue their comeback in the final two trips to the plate.
 
Simon and Perez each finished game number one with two hits, while Marek's two-run homer gave her a team-high two RBI In the contest.
 
UT Tyler's first loss of the 2022 season in game number one sets their overall record at 15-1, while both squads move to 1-1 on the year in Lone Star Conference play.
 
UT Tyler will finish up play in the opening weekend of LSC play across the league on Sunday afternoon with a doubleheader at Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M. Play for those games is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch.