DURANT, Okla. – The Tarleton TexAnn softball team will play six games this weekend at the Lone Star Conference Crossover Tournament in Durant, Okla.
The TexAnns enter the tournament 12-14 overall and head coach Julie Mata believes this is a key weekend for her team.
“Going into the Crossover Tourney this weekend, I feel that our team is at a crossroads,” Mata said. “I think our players know how good they have the potential to be and they have to overcome the adversity they've faced so that their efforts will start showing a little more in the win column. Some teams give up when the W's and L's don't look like they want them to look, so it's important that our players keep their focus. They play hard and they represent Tarleton in a very positive way on and off the field, so I know if they keep it up, the W's will come to them, too. We don't have a 'soft' game on our schedule this year at all, and when it comes to LSC matchups, the intensity gets cranked up a notch, so this weekend is very important for us.”
The TexAnns are coming off a split at St. Mary's as Tarleton has taken seven of the last eight games with the Lady Rattlers. The TexAnns will play Central Oklahoma at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 26 before facing East Central at 2:30 p.m. On Saturday, March 27, Tarleton will play Cameron at 11 a.m. and No. 7 Midwestern State at 2:30 p.m. The TexAnns will finish the weekend on Sunday, March 28 against Southwestern Oklahoma at 12:30 p.m. and Southeastern Oklahoma at 4:30 p.m.
“Every time we play this tournament, it seems that a lot of attention gets focused on which division comes out with more wins, the north or the south, but there is so much parody in this conference this year that I honestly believe any team in either division could win it,” Mata said.
Tarleton is led by Victoria Kelly at the plate with a .388 batting average and 33 hits. Julie Norris is second with a .364 average while she leads the team with 17 runs scored. Both of the TexAnns have 15 runs batted in to tie for second on the squad. Arianna Rodriguez (.346) leads the TexAnns with 22 RBI and five home runs. April Gonzalez (.339) and Rebecca Wessels (.338) are also hitting above the .300-mark. Wessels leads the team with 26-of-28 stole bases this season and Tami Sutton (.272) is second with 11-of-11. Tarleton is batting .306 as a team this year as opponents' earned run average is a combined 3.05.
Norris leads the team in the circle with a 2.75 ERA and an 8-8 record. She has pitched in 109.1 innings and allowed 25 walks while striking out 73. Opponents are hitting .228 off the senior. Katie Smith is second in innings pitched with 60.1 and is 4-6 with a 4.29 ERA. She has allowed 14 walks while striking out 33. The TexAnns have a combined ERA of 3.30 while opponents are hitting .265 off the purple and white staff.
Tarleton split a doubleheader with UCO last week in Edmond, Okla., and the Bronchos are 15-9 overall this season.
The TexAnns took a 1-0 victory from ECU on Feb. 6 at the St. Mary's Classic in San Antonio. The Tigers are now 19-7 heading into the weekend.
Cameron enters the weekend 11-11 overall and the TexAnns defeated the Aggies in the first game of the season for CU (third for Tarleton) at the St. Mary's tournament, 4-1.
The nationally-ranked Mustangs (24-4) and the TexAnns have not played this season. MSU has won 16 of its last 17 games, with the lone loss coming at Central Oklahoma on March 15 (3-2).
The Bulldogs are 16-8 this season and took two games in Weatherford, Okla. from the TexAnns on March 6.
Tarleton played at SOSU on Feb. 2 and lost both games to the Savage Storm (2-1 and 5-1).
Following the three-day event15 of the final 17 regular season games are LSC South Division contests.
“The Crossover Tournament is a great LSC event, but there is absolutely no game there that is more important than every pitch of every inning to be played within our division,” Mata said. “When you have two nationally-ranked teams within your division alone, only four teams will make the championship tourney from each division, and you have seven teams that can win it within each division while the championship gets you into the national playoffs automatically, you know that your focus has to be on winning South Division matchups one inning at a time. I think we've made the statement we can play with anyone, but we need to prove to ourselves in the tourney this weekend that we can do it more consistently. We have more to prove to ourselves this weekend than we have to prove to anyone else.”
