THE GAMES
No. 14 Tarleton is set to begin the third year of the Mark Cumpian era this weekend at The Scrapyards in Houston. The TexAnns will begin the season with six games over the first three days of the season, beginning with a 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. doubleheader against St. Mary's and Colorado Mines on Friday. Tarleton will then play Southeastern Oklahoma (1 p.m.) and Pittsburg State (3:30 p.m.) on Saturday before closing out the road trip against Texas A&M International (11:30 p.m.) and Minnesota-Duluth (2 p.m.) on Sunday.
 
TARLETON IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Tarleton Softball will open the 2019 season ranked the No. 14 team in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. This is the third time in program history Tarleton will open a season among the national top 25 and the first time since they opened the 2016 season ranked No. 10 in the nation. Tarleton is one of three Lone Star Conference teams to begin the season nationally ranked – joining Angelo State (6) and Texas A&M-Commerce (9). The three Lone Star Conference schools are the most by any conference in the national poll. Nine other leagues were represented by two teams.
 
ABOUT THE WINTER INVITATIONAL
This is the first year that Arkansas Tech will host a softball tournament at The Scrapyards. 17 different teams from across the nation will travel down to take part in the four-day event. Tickets can be purchased at the gate on the day of the game. There are no advanced ticket sales.
 
GAME COVERAGE
Links to live stats can be found on the TarletonSports.com Softball Schedule Page. Complete game recaps will be available on TarletonSports.com after the final game of each day. For periodic score updates, follow @TarletonSports or @tarletonsball on Twitter.
 
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Jordan Withrow and Georgia Capell have been named 2019 Preseason All-Americans by Fastpitch News (FPN). Withrow was named an All-America Second Team pitcher while Capell earned honorable mention honors. Withrow is coming off the best year of her brief Tarleton career as a sophomore in 2018. As a sophomore, Withrow was an honorable mention All-American by FPN and the Lone Star Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year. She also earned all-conference and all-region recognition and was named the LSC Academic Player of the Year. Last spring, she became the first Tarleton pitcher in program history with over 200 strikeouts in a single season (252). Capell made quite the impression as she became the first freshman in program history to be named an All-American. She earned third-team honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). In her debut season, Capell was named the South Central Region and Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year as well as all-conference and all-region.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
Coming off a school record 50-win season, Tarleton softball is picked to finish third in the annual Lone Star Conference preseason poll. The LSC preseason poll is voted on by conference coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members. Tarleton collected 255 votes, including four first-place votes. Angelo State, last year's LSC champion, is picked to finish atop the league with 282 votes and 12 first-place votes. West Texas A&M finished one vote ahead of the TexAnns for second with 256 votes. Texas A&M-Commerce is picked fourth with 253 votes.
 
WITHROW TABBED PRESEASON PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Jordan Withrow was named the LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year after a sophomore campaign where she was the LSC Pitcher of the Year, an NFCA All-Region Second Team selection and FastpitchNews.com Honorable Mention All-American. Withrow went 26-6 in the circle with 221.1 innings of work and 252 strikeouts, becoming the first player in program history to strikeout 200 in a single season.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES: WINTER INVITATIONAL FIELD
Tarleton will face off with six different teams at the tournament. The series history against each opponent is as follows:
 
Tarleton leads St. Mary's 35-34 since 1998. The TexAnns have won four straight over the Rattlers since Nyka Wood launched a walk-off home run against then-No. 3 St. Mary's in Stephenville in 2017.
 
Tarleton leads Colorado Mines 3-0 since 2012.
 
Southeastern Oklahoma leads the all-time series 29-16 since Tarleton's debut season (1996). Tarleton defeated the Savage Storm 13-1 last season in the first meeting since 2013.
 
Tarleton leads Pittsburg State 3-1 since 1998. The TexAnns and Gorillas have not met since 2013.
 
Tarleton leads Texas A&M International 18-9 since 2008. The TexAnns have won seven of the last nine since 2016.
 
Tarleton has never played Minnesota-Duluth.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
The TexAnns will head to San Antonio next weekend for six games at the St. Mary's College Classic. Tarleton will square off with regional competition, including Heartland rivals St. Edward's and St. Mary's. For more information on the Tarleton Softball program, follow @tarletonsball on Twitter.