TYLER, Texas – The Cameron softball team has a tough road to the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament final as the open the week against the defending NCAA Division II National Champion West Texas A&M on Thursday.
Kayla Adams' Aggies earned the 9-seed in the league championship tournament after going 13-17 in LSC games during the 2022 season. Their reward is a date with the 8-seed WT, who went 17-13 this spring after winning the National Championship a year ago.
Cameron's overall record at the end of the regular season was 25-23 after three straight doubleheaders against top-20 ranked opponents to close out their schedule. The last of those was against No. 15 Oklahoma Christian last Saturday with the Eagles coming away with 6-3 and 3-1 wins at McMahon Field.
At the plate, CU is hitting .298 as a team with 5.1 runs scored per game and 117 extra-base hits, including 53 homers which is fifth most in the LSC and 21st in Division II.
Breley Webb leads the way with a .394 average with 21 runs scored, eight doubles, four homers, and 24 RBI. Four others are hitting over .300, including freshman catcher
Kaiden Boren. Boren also leads the team with 12 homers and 38 RBI while
Khmari Edwards, who is hitting .344, leads the team and is second in the LSC with 50 home runs to go along with 29 stolen bases and 10 homers.
Josie Swafford, who is also hitting .356 with 22 RBI, leads the team with a 3.20 average and 117 strikeouts in 102.2 innings. Webb owns a 3.87 ERA and has 11 wins with 92 K's in 1140 innings for a Cameron team that has a combined ERA of 3.95.
CU's softball program has qualified for the last 11 conference tournaments dating back to 2011 (2020 tournament was canceled due to CoVID-19). The Aggies' last first round win came in 2017 when they, the 3-seed, beat the 6-seed A&M-Commerce before falling to the 2-seed WT in the next round.
West Texas went 28-15 during the regular season and closed things out with a 3-3 record during their final two weeks including a split doubleheader against Eastern New Mexico on April 30, the final games of the regular season.
The Lady Buffs hit .336 as a team, scoring 6.6 runs scored per game with 127 extra-base hits and 80 stolen bases this spring. Brittni Rufus leads the team with a .448 average, 48 runs scored, and 26 stolen bases. Diana Murtha is a big power threat with a .394 average, 10 doubles, 14 homers, and 45 RBI while Ruby Salzman hits .392 with 11 doubles, 10 homers, and 37 RBI.
With six different pitchers this season, WT has a team ERA of 2.90 and an opponents' batting average of .252. Freshman Heidi Vortherms is one of the best pitchers in the LSC with a 1.78 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 121.2 innings of work. Emilee Wilson has the second most innings for WT at 65 with a 3.88 ERA.
After their 1:30 p.m. battle on Thursday against WT, it does not get any easier as the winner of the first-round game goes on to face the No. 1 seed and LSC regular season champion UT Tyler on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.
