The TWU softball team has had plenty of ups and downs already, for a season that is barely a month old.

The Pioneers have posted winning streaks of five and six games, along with a stretch in which they dropped five out of six games.

So while TWU (15-6) isn’t sure what to expect when Lone Star Conference South Division play opens this weekend, the Pioneers at least have momentum on their side. They have won a season-high six straight games and nine of their last 10.

TWU will play West Texas A&M in a three-game series starting Friday. Perhaps most importantly, it will be at home, where the Pioneers are 8-3 this season.

“They feel good about themselves,” said TWU head coach Richie Bruister about his team. “We’ve had some challenging games that we’ve come out on the winning end of, and we’re feeling good heading into the weekend.”

The Pioneers swept a pair of doubleheaders at home against Missouri Southern last week, then also swept Cameron (Okla.) on the road for their first true road wins of the season. They scored at least five runs in all six games.

At the plate this season, TWU is hitting .326 as a team. Haley Siebman is swinging the bat at a red-hot .434 clip and is a perfect 20-for-20 on stolen-base attempts. More impressive has been the pitching for TWU, which has posted a collective earned-run average of 2.42 behind senior Carly Case, who leads the conference in innings pitched and is second in strikeouts.

One key in TWU’s recent success has been a reshuffling of the lineup to include more team speed, which puts pressure on opposing defenses.

“The pitching is always ahead of the hitting to start with, but now the hitting is catching up,” Bruister said. “Everybody’s just playing well right now and being real team players.”

The series against WTAMU will be a key test to start the conference schedule. The Lady Buffs (18-7) are averaging more than seven runs per game, and defeated TWU 10-2 in the Midwestern State tournament on Feb. 20 in Wichita Falls.

Basketball

Pioneers ousted by Tarleton

TWU’s season ended in the first round of the Lone Star Conference tournament last week, when the Pioneers fell 71-66 to Tarleton State.

It was a game in which the Pioneers (15-12), which entered the tournament with a school-best No. 3 seed, trailed much of the day. TWU held a two-point lead at halftime, but could not catch up after a 17-3 Tarleton run to start the second half.

“I thought we could catch them, but they stepped up and made their free throws,” said TWU head coach Beth Jillson. “Our players fought hard. It was a tough loss, but it was to a worthy opponent.”

Still, Jillson acknowledges the progress that TWU made as a program this season. The Pioneers were in the conference tournament for the first time since 2006, and finished with the best LSC regular-season record in school history at 9-5.

“Now we have set a standard and we expect to be at the conference tournament every year. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and I’m looking forward to the future,” Jillson said. “What they did this year is really special, and our seniors will take that with them forever.”

WTAMU wins tournament

For the third straight year, West Texas A&M won the LSC tournament on Sunday with a 66-59 win over Northeastern (Okla.) State in the title game in Bartlesville, Okla.

Both teams were among four squads from the conference chosen to play in the eight-team NCAA Division II South Central Regional beginning Friday in Canyon. Tarleton State and Central Oklahoma also made the field.

Gymnastics

TWU heads west for meets

After a week off, the Pioneers are set to return to action this weekend, when they travel to California for a pair of meets.

On Friday, TWU will compete in a dual meet at Sacramento State. Two days later, the Pioneers will travel to UC Davis for a triangular meet that also includes California out of the Pac-10.

It will be the final road trip of the season for TWU, and the second time this season the Pioneers have competed in two meets on the same weekend.

They have momentum heading into the weekend after turning in a season-best team score of 193.625 in their most recent meet Feb. 27 against Wisconsin-Stout.

“We’re rested and ready,” said TWU head coach Frank Kudlac. “We want to take that energy and excitement on the road.”

TODD JORGENSON can be reached at 940-566-6871. His e-mail address is tjorgenson@dentonrc.com .