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Zias sweep West Texas

CANYON, Texas — Junior Nicole Dickson took a shutout into the seventh and finished with a seven-hitter as Eastern New Mexico University’s softball team completed a Lone Star Conference South Division sweep of West Texas A&M on Sunday with a 6-2 victory.

The Zias (20-17, 5-7 South) put together a pair of four-run innings in the opener and hung on for an 8-7 win. ENMU took three of the four from the Lady Buffs (10-26, 2-14) in the weekend series.

ENMU is slated to return to action in a 7 p.m. clash today against the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Sunday’s second game was scoreless until the top of the fifth, when a single and an error set up runners at second and third with no one out. Rebecca Quinones’ one-out groundout produced the game’s first run, and catcher Michelle Anderson followed with her eighth homer of the season for a 3-0 lead.

Freshman Casandra McCommons’ first home run, a two-run shot, made it 5-0 in the sixth, and the Zias added a run later in the inning on Anderson’s RBI single to left.

Dickson (12-4) gave up a leadoff pinch-hit homer to WT’s Kaylee Powell in the seventh. The Lady Buffs added an unearned run later in the inning, but Dickson got Dorane Young on a 3-2 pitch for her only strikeout to end it and leave two runners stranded.

In the opener, consecutive two-run doubles by Kelsey Kubik and pitcher Kristen Cruickshank wiped out a 2-0 WT lead in the third. After the Lady Buffs regained a 5-4 advantage in the fourth, the Zias rallied for four runs on four hits in the fifth, including run-scoring doubles by Alex Mayo Otis and Kristina Goodman and an RBI single by McCommons.

Cruickshank (6-8) gave up a two-run homer to Dani Couger with no one out in the WT seventh, but retired the next three hitters to end it.