Kingsville - For the third matchup in a row, the Texas A&M - Kingsville softball team will be playing a ranked Lone Star Conference opponent, this time the Javelinas are taking on No.5 West Texas in a Friday doubleheader at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m..

The Javelinas are riding momentum from a road doubleheader sweep of No.22 Lubbock Christian on Sunday into the top-five matchup, their second in the last three matchups.

"West Texas A&M is a very well-coached team," Head Coach Orlando Salinas said. "They have a very good pitching staff along with a very dangerous lineup."

The fifth-ranked team in all the land, The Lady Buffs are 20-2 on the season and 10-2 in LSC play. Most recently, the team is coming off of a pair of splits, once against No.1 UT-Tyler on Friday, and once against Texas Woman's on Sunday. The team is dominant in every facet of the game, but is led by its hitting. The Lady Buffs lead the conference in batting percentage, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Hits, doubles, triples, homers, total bases, and RBIs are all paced by WT as well. Both Lauren Granger and Emilee Boyer rank top five in the conference in batting average, as each has hit .500 on the year so far.

Their pitching staff has given up the fifth-fewest hits in the LSC this season and has struck out the second-most batters. They are led in the circle by Heidi Vortherms, who boasts the fourth-best ERA in the conference.

Kingsville counters, however, with a pitcher who may be the hottest in the region right now. Freshman Arianna Alaniz has won back-to-back LSC Pitcher of the Week awards, striking out 47 and giving up just three total earned runs over those two weeks. Despite an injury forcing a late start to her season, she now ranks second in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings, and 10th in total strikeouts. She is also 45th in strikeout to walk ratio.

The Javelinas' offense has been coming along as of late as well. The team slots in at fifth in the LSC in batting average on-base percentage, and homers, as well as third in total bases and fourth in slugging. Graduate student outfielder Lindsey Evans' bat in particular has been on fire to start the year - she hits the 27th-best average in the nation.

"We hope to continue to build on our momentum, competing in the Lone Star Conference," Salinas said. "It doesn't get any better than this and our team looks forward to the challenge. It's all about getting great pitching, timely hitting, and playing stellar defense. That's the ultimate goal and the team that does that will win the series."

Friday's showdown will be the first of two home doubleheaders for the Javelinas, as they are set to host Midwestern St. on Sunday with first pitch set for noon.