• Tournament Central for Live Stats

STEPHENVILLE - Fresh off a win in the finale of their home tournament Sunday night, the Tarleton TexAnn softball team is heading to Canyon this weekend for an action-packed tournament full of in-region foes.
 
"This is going to be an excellent tournament with very talented teams on the schedule," said Tarleton head coach Julie Mata. "Almost all of our LSC rivals will be present, playing the same tough RMAC teams that we are and it will be interesting to get a good look at everyone in person.
 
"I feel like we made some good progress with our team in our last game and I expect to continue building on that," she added. "We've played a tough schedule so far and it only gets tougher from here. We have to be more consistent, more connected and more focused on the details with every pitch."
 
AT A GLANCE
Records: Tarleton State TexAnns, 3-4 (0-0 LSC); Colorado State-Pueblo, 2-3 (0-0 RMAC); Colorado Mesa Mavericks, 0-0 (0-0 RMAC); Metro State Roadrunners, 0-0 (0-0 RMAC); Adams State Grizzlies, 1-4 (0-0 RMAC); Fort Lewis Skyhawks, 3-2 (0-0 RMAC)
Live Stats: Will be available by following the links on the softball schedule at TarletonSports.com or by visiting the Tournament Central Page on GoBuffsGo.com.
 
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Game 1: vs. Colorado State-Pueblo • Friday, February 14 • 11 a.m.
Game 2: vs. Colorado Mesa • Friday, February 14 • 3 p.m.
Game 3: vs. Metro State • Saturday, February 15 • 11 a.m.
Game 4: vs. Adams State • Saturday, February 15 • 1 p.m.
Game 5: vs. Fort Lewis • Sunday, February 16 • 11 a.m.
Game 6: vs. Colorado Mesa • Sunday, February 16 • 1 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
In a sudden turn of events, Tarleton's originally scheduled trip to Southeastern Oklahoma was cancelled which led to an impromptu home tournament in Stephenville. Tarleton lost the first three games of the tournament before a complete game pitching effort from Brenna Hennan and a pair of homers from Kendra Mendoza and Emily Jones lifted the TexAnns past Southern Nazarene in the tournament finale Sunday night.
 
SERIES HISTORIES
Tarleton is 6-1 all-time combined against the six opponents on tap for this weekend, with the most career meetings being against Adams State (3). Adams State is the only one of this weekend's foes to ever beat Tarleton, earning a 5-7 win over the TexAnns in Tarleton's inaugural softball season of 1996. Since then Tarleton is 6-0 with two wins against Adams State, a 2-0 record against Colorado Mesa, one win against Colorado State-Pueblo and one win against Fort Lewis. Tarleton has never played Metro State.
 
IN SEARCH OF 500
Tarleton head coach Julie Mata is in her 18th season at the helm of the TexAnns. After a stellar playing career as a basketball star for the TexAnns in the late 80's and early 90's, Mata took over as the head softball coach in the school's second season of 1997 and has lifted the TexAnns into national prominence. Now, Mata is on the verge of a momentous accomplishment in her career - 500 victories. She is currently at 490.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS
In last weekend's TexAnn Softball Invitational, Randi Fentress and Bailee Mauldin were named to the weekend's all-tournament team.
 
PICKING UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
In last year's regular season finale against Incarnate Word, Tarleton's Bailee Mauldin slugged a walk-off two-run home run to give her a team-high 42 RBIs for the season. Through the first seven games of 2014, Mauldin is right back at it. The senior catcher has started all seven games and is the team's leader in batting average (.370) among players with at least 10 plate appearances as well as hits (10) and RBIs (9).
 
ACE OF THE STAFF
Through the first seven games, Randi Fentress has taken a hold of the 'staff ace' moniker. The senior has tossed a team-high 31.2 innings in five appearances and three starts. She leads the team with 26 strikeouts and in last weekend's tournament, she led all tournament pitchers with 19.1 innings pitched in three games with a tournament-high 17 K's.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
After this weekend's visit to Canyon, Tarleton will return home for a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader against St. mary's beginning at 3 p.m.