Box Score TYLER, Texas – The 2023 Lone Star Conference tournament run for (10) Eastern New Mexico is over as (2) No. 10 West Texas A&M held onto a narrow 3-2 victory Thursday evening.

Both teams battled tough throughout the whole game and it came down to the wire to decide a winner.

Over the contest, Eastern left eight runners on base and only had two innings where they went three up and three down at the plate.

WT scored all three of their runs in the middle portion of the game as both programs did not find much success offensively in the first two frames.

The Buffs got two runners on via a hit by pitch and a walk. That is when they hit a two-out shot to the third baseman who attempted to catch the line drive and it grazed her glove and gave WT the first run of the contest.

Despite having two runners on, West Texas A&M was unable to continue the attack until the following frame.

The fourth inning started with ENMU's only error of the day. Afterwards, Eastern got a pair of quick outs with the runner only advancing to second base over that span.

The Buffs used a pair of RBI hits (RBI-triple and RBI-single) to score two more times and bring the advantage to 3-0.

ENMU did not leave the game empty handed as they began rally of their own in the sixth.

Similar to one of WT's scoring opportunities, Eastern got on base via a walk and a scoring error. This led to a fielder's choice that ended up loading the bases on another error by West Texas A&M.

Emma Southerland hit a ball up the middle and the shortstop decided to try and get the runner out at second, but the throw proved to be a little off allowing two runs to score and allow ENMU to have runners on first and second.

In a crucial point of the game with one out, WT went to the bullpen to get out of the jam. That is exactly what happened as the team's ace struckout two straight hitters to send the game into the bottom half of the sixth, 3-2.

Eastern kept the score in an optimal position in that half inning and looked to the top of the order to potentially tie the game or take the lead.

Despite having the top of the order up, the program was set down in order and the Buffs clinched a spot into the conference semifinals tomorrow afternoon.

"Marissa (Rodriguez) started the game off doing very well and had their changeup and was able to produce weak popups and groundballs," said head coach Amanda Fefel when asked about her pitchers after the game. "Emma (Southerland) came in and shutdown their hitting when they were getting a little momentum behind them (WT)."

Rodriguez allowed just four hits and three runs (one earned) over 3.2 innings. Emma Southerland came in at a crucial point in the game and threw 2.1 innings of relief and gave up two hits and a walk.

This season, the Hounds earned their most conference wins ever, most overall wins since 2007, and earned its first playoff win since 2001. Although the program fell in the quarterfinals of the LSC tournament, ENMU made vast improvements over the 2023 season and laid out a foundation for years to come.