THE GAMES
Tarleton will visit Lubbock for a three-game round robin tournament against Lone Star Conference rivals this weekend. The No. 24 Texans will open the weekend Saturday against Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. The Texans will close out the weekend Sunday at 2 p.m. against host Lubbock Christian. The games will not count towards the LSC standings. This will be the final tournament before conference play begins next weekend.
 
SCHEDULE CHANGE
Due to winter weather conditions in the Lubbock area this weekend, Tarleton's softball schedule will now be Saturday instead of Friday and play through Sunday. Tarleton will now play their games against Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon and evening before closing out the weekend with a single showdown against host Lubbock Christian Sunday at 2 p.m. The Texans were originally scheduled to play LCU Friday night and a doubleheader with ENMU and WT on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE
All games of the series will have live stats and a video stream available, courtesy of the host team. Direct links to live stats and video can be found at the Tarleton Softball schedule on TarletonSports.com or on the Game Day graphics from @TarletonSports on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Tarleton enjoyed a 5-1 road trip to Angelo State's George McCorkle Challenge at Mayer Field. The Texans blasted Ouachita Baptist, New Mexico Highlands and Texas A&M International over the first five games before suffering a 3-2 setback against Angelo State, who has since moved up to No. 9 in the NFCA national poll. The Texans hit .350 as a team last weekend with 41 RBI and outscored opponents 46-5. Morgan Ling (.533) and Kristen Zuehl (.500) paced the offense while Jordan Withrow was her masterful self in the pitching circle with a 0.44 ERA in 16.0 innings with 25 strikeouts. Tristan Bridges also went 2-0 on the weekend in her two starts.
 
TARLETON IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Tarleton dropped three spots in the latest NFCA national poll to No. 24. Tarleton opened the year ranked No. 21 in the nation and has defeated previously-ranked No. 1 Augustana (S.D.) on their way to an 11-3 start this year. The Texans have now been ranked in nine consecutive NFCA polls dating back to April 3, 2019, including last year's final and this year's preseason rankings. Tarleton (24) is one of five LSC schools in the national rankings – UT Tyler (4), Angelo State (9), Texas A&M-Kingsville (15) and Texas A&M-Commerce (21). Lubbock Christian is also receiving votes in this week's poll.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
The Texans racked up 90 wins over the 2018 and 2019 seasons – the most in the LSC. Tarleton Softball was picked to finish third in the annual Lone Star Conference preseason. The LSC preseason poll is voted on by conference coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members. Tarleton collected 594 votes and one first-place vote. After advancing to the 2019 National Championship game, Texas A&M-Kingsville is picked to finish atop the league with 692 votes and 32 first-place votes. Texas A&M-Commerce is the only other team ahead of Tarleton, with the Lions picked second with 666 votes and seven first place selections.
 
CAPELL TABBED PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Georgia Capell was selected as the LSC Preseason Player of the Year after a sophomore campaign where she was named CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America First Team section, earning both D2CCA All-America and NFCA All-American status. She hit .387 with 57 runs scored, 17 doubles, 18 home runs, and 68 RBI last season. Her 68 RBI and .822 slugging percentage were outright Tarleton single-season records. She also moved into sole possession of second place on Tarleton's all-time home run list with 35. Capell finished the season among the top 10 in the nation in five statistical categories – RBI (68), RBI per game (1.24), home runs (18), home runs per game (0.33) and total bases (134).
 
SCHUTT SPORTS/NFCA TOP 50 WATCH LIST
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association released its annual Top-50 Watch List for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year Thursday afternoon and Tarleton State University has two players to keep an eye on – Georgia Capell and Jordan Withrow. The top 50 list is comprised of returning NFCA All-Americans from last season and a slew of players submitted by head coaches and selected by the NFCA Division II All-America committee. This is the third year that Tarleton has been represented on the early-season watch list. Katelyn Conlee (2016) was the first player in program history to be on the list. Capell and Tanna Huie were on last year's list. Capell becomes the first player to appear on multiple watch lists.
 
TOPS IN THE LSC
Tarleton has won 101 games combined since the start of the 2018 season. That total is the most wins by a Lone Star Conference school over that span. The second most is Angelo State with 100 wins since 2018.
 
WITHROW GETS 600
Tarleton's all-time strikeout leader recorded her 600th career strikeout with a looking strikeout of Henderson State's Kaitlyn Felder in the fourth inning on Feb. 8.
 
QUITE OFFENSIVE
All nine of Tarleton's starting hitters have recorded at least one multi-hit game through the first eight games of the season. Georgia Capell, Morgan Ling and Hallie Saintignan lead the team with six multi-hit performances this season. Kristen Zuehl recorded the team's first four-hit game last weekend against New Mexico Highlands.
 
MILESTONE WATCH: GEORGIA CAPELL
Tarleton's Georgia Capell is closing in on the following milestones within the Tarleton Softball program:
 
Georgia Capell is already closing in on Tarleton's all-time home run leader, Arianna Rodriguez, in her junior season. She is two home runs away from tying Arianna Rodriguez for the program record (41).

Georgia Capell scored seven runs last weekend and moved into No. 3 all-time in program history, passing Alicia Petersma and Kristin Williams (128). Capell has scored 134 runs in her Tarleton career. She is 16 runs shy of Arianna Rodriguez (150) for second all-time and 41 shy of Melody Mayse (175) for the program record.
 
Georgia Capell has moved into a tie with Alicia Petersma for the third-most RBI in program history (129). She is 20 runs shy of Arianna Rodriguez (149) for No. 2 all-time and 62 RBI away from tying Nyka Wood (191) for the program record.
 
MILESTONE WATCH: JORDAN WITHROW
Tarleton's Jordan Withrow is closing in on the following milestones within the Tarleton Softball program:
 
Jordan Withrow is closing in on her former teammate's all-time wins record at Tarleton. Withrow (65) is three wins shy of passing Haley Freyman (67) for the most wins in Tarleton history.

Jordan Withrow is close to becoming only the third Texan in program history to throw 600 innings. She recently moved into third place all-time with 568.1 innings of work. Haley Freyman (678.0) and Carla Geeslin (647.1) are the only other Texans to have topped 600 career innings.
 
Jordan Withrow is four shutouts away from tying Hall of Famer Carla Geeslin for the most goose eggs in Tarleton history.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES: LCU ROUND ROBIN
Tarleton will take the field in Lubbock against three conference rivals this weekend. Here's a look at how Tarleton has fared against the teams they will see this weekend:
 
Tarleton and Lubbock Christian have been regular competitors on the softball field since 2011 and the Texans hold a 7-4 edge all-time against the Lady Chaps. The teams last met in 2017 – Mark Cumpian's rookie season as head coach – and played each other five times with Tarleton earning four wins. Tarleton is 1-1 against LCU in Lubbock.
 
Tarleton and Eastern New Mexico have a rich, 84-game history as league rivals that dates back to 1997. The Texans own a 69-15 edge in the all-time series against the Greyhounds, including a 3-0 mark on neutral sites. Tarleton has won 21 of the last 23 meetings since 2013, including eight straight.
 
Tarleton and West Texas A&M have been competing on the softball field since 2006, when WT made their softball debut. The Texans and Lady Buffs have squared off 45 times and the Texans have won 21. This will be the first time they've met at a neutral site.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will make their westward trek to Odessa and Silver City, New Mexico to begin Lone Star Conference play next week. The Texans will open league play on Friday at 4 p.m. against UT Permian Basin for a doubleheader and then head to Western New Mexico for two on Sunday at 11 a.m.