The Teams: Tarleton Texans (11-4, 0-0 WAC) vs. Texas Southern (3-8, 0-0 SWAC)
Where: Stephenville, TX
Stadium: Tarleton Softball Complex
Times: 2 p.m. / 4 p.m. CT (Tuesday)
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
Tarleton Softball is back home Tuesday afternoon for its first midweek doubleheader of the spring when they play host to the Texas Southern Tigers at 2 p.m. CT. Live stats and live video will be available via links on the softball schedule page at TarletonSports.com. The video can also be found at the wacdigitalnetwork.com/tarleton.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUPS

• Tarleton will open the month of March with a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader against Texas Southern before heading east to Lake Charles, La. for a three-game series against McNeese State.
• Tarleton and Texas Southern will renew the battle of TSU's after meeting on the diamond for the first time last year in Austin. The Texans and Tigers met on the diamond of McCombs Field at UT last year during a tournament and Julia Wernet twirled an absolute gem. The Tarleton right-hander went seven innings against the Tigers, allowing three hits and no runs while striking out three.
• Tarleton and McNeese will be playing for the first time program history.

 
QUICK HITS

• The three Texans with four home runs – Georgia Capell, Katy Schaefer, and Miranda Pruitt – are the national leaders in home runs among reclassifying players. They would be tied for No. 62 in the nation in that category if reclassifying programs were counted in the national rankings.
• Mark Cumpian has been quite successful in scheduling his early season tournaments. Tarleton is 54-24 (.726) under Cumpian in non-postseason tournaments, including 17-10 outside the state of Texas and 11-4 this season. Cumpian's Texans have swept six tournaments over that time span, including two tournaments this season. Tarleton has finished .500 or better in 13 of the 16 tournaments they've played under Cumpian since 2017.
• Katy Schaefer enters the week with active streaks of 12 consecutive games having reached base and eight straight games with a hit. Georgia Capell boasts the longest hit streak of the season for Tarleton (10).
• Amanda DeSario's four-hit performance against UTEP was the first four-hit performance for Tarleton this season. It's the first four-hit game by a Texan in the D1 era and since Georgia Capell vs. UT Tyler on March 6, 2020.

 
WAC UPDATES

• LEAGUE STANDINGS: After the opening weekend, Tarleton sits alone atop the WAC Southwest and in second place overall among the WAC standings.
• FOUR NEW MEMBERS, TWO ON THE WAY: Just a year after welcoming two schools to the league in Dixie State and Tarleton, the WAC has opened its arms once again by bringing in the 'Texas 4'group of Abilene Christian, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, and Lamar. Tarleton will also bring in Southern Utah next year and Incarnate Word in 2023 to grow by eight members over a four-year span. Incarnate Word recently accepted an invitation to join the league.
• OWNING THE LONE STAR STATE: With the addition of the four Texas schools, the WAC now boasts the largest presence of any conference in the nation at the NCAA Division I level in the state of Texas.
• LEAGUE DIVISIONS: With the addition of the four Texas schools, the WAC has gone into two divisions for the first time since 2004. The Texans are a part of the Southwest Division that includes all six of the league's Texas schools – Tarleton, ACU, SFA, Sam Houston, Lamar, and UTRGV.
• LEAGUE DIVISIONS: With the addition of the four Texas schools, the WAC has gone into two divisions in softball for the first time. The Texans are a part of the Southwest Division that includes all five of the league's Texas softball-playing schools – Tarleton, ACU, SFA, Sam Houston, and Lamar.
• PRESEASON POLL: Tarleton was picked to finish fourth in the Southwest Division of the Western Athletic Conference. With eight points, the Texans were picked behind SFA (16), Sam Houston (13), and Abilene Christian (9) in a division that includes all five of the league's Texas schools.
• NEW COMMISH IN TOWN: The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors has announced Brian Thornton as the seventh commissioner in the 60-year history of the conference. Thornton replaces Jeff Hurd, who will be ending a 10-year run as commissioner and 37 years overall at the conference on December 31, 2021.

 
CAPELL LOOKING TO REWRITE THE RECORD BOOKS
Georgia Capell has put together a Hall of Fame worthy resumé. Capell enters the weekend as the program's all-time leader in home runs (54), runs (187), and total bases (449). She is also top 5 in program history in four other offensive categories: hits (227), RBI (178), doubles (56) and hit by pitch (47). She's also on pace to be among the all-time leaders in batting average and slugging percentage.
 

Hits
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Melody Mayse	2013-16	260
2.	Nyka Wood	2015-18	258
3.	Georgia Capell	2018-22	227
4.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	208
5.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	192

 

Doubles
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Nyka Wood	2015-18	56
	Georgia Capell	2018-22	56
3.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	49
4.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	47
5.	Katelyn Conlee	2013-16	40

 

RBI
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Nyka Wood	2015-18	191
2.	Georgia Capell	2018-22	178
3.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	149
4.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	129
5.	Katelyn Conlee	2013-16	108

 

Hit By Pitch
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	April Gonzalez	2007-10	47
	Georgia Capell	2018-22	47
3.	Nyka Wood	2015-18	36
4.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	29
5.	Tanna Huie	2018-19	20

 
NOTABLES

• ROAD WARRIORS: Since the 2019 regular season finale against West Texas A&M on April 27,Tarleton has been the very definition of weary travelers. Tarleton Softball has played 96 games since the beginning of the 2019 postseason and 76 of those have been away from Stephenville. The Texans are 35-41 in road games since May 3, 2019 and 15-5 at home. Tarleton went 713 days between home losses (April 27, 2019 to April 9, 2021).
• CHASING CANTU: In the history of diamond sports (baseball and softball) at Tarleton State University, there has only ever been one person to hit over 50 home runs while wearing the purple and the white. Texan Baseball star Mike Cantu is the program's all-time home run leader with 58 roundtrippers from 1988-91. Capell (54) joins Cantu as the only Texans in university history to club 50 career long balls.
• IT'S A FAMILY THING: Newcomer Ashlee LaRue joins Tarleton after spending one season at Ole Miss. LaRue is a native of Blanco, Texas and has quite the family history with baseball and softball. Her father, Shaun, played professionally with the Cincinnati Reds system. Her aunt, Brooke, played three years for Tarleton from 2007-09. Her uncle, Jason, played 12 years in Major League Baseball for Cincinnati, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
• FOLLOWING IN HER FOOTSTEPS: After earning an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M, Hannah Mayo has transferred to Tarleton where her mother was a trailblazer for the beginning of the Tarleton Softball program. Hannah Mayo's mom, Heather, was part of the first two teams to compete in fastpitch softball at Tarleton in 1996-97. Heather was the winning pitcher for the first victory in program history on Feb. 19, 1996 against Schreiner College 3-2 in extra innings. She was also an All-LSC First Team and Academic All-LSC award winner for the Texans in 1997. Daughter, Hannah, made her home debut last weekend against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and pitched five innings in a 5-4 win over the Islanders.
• DOUBLE DIGIT HITS: The Texans have had seven games with over 10 hits in a single game. Tarleton only had nine such games all last season. The 14 hits against Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday ties the most in a single game in Tarleton's Division I history (vs. Texas Tech 3/20/21).
• SEASON-OPENING SHUTOUT: Tristan Bridges spun the first shutout in a season opener since Tarleton began the 2017 season – Mark Cumpian's first – with a 5-0 victory over Washburn. Tarleton's all-time wins leader Haley Freyman blanked the Ichabods with one hit over seven innings for Cumpian's first win as a head coach. Five years and 161 wins later, Cumpian began his sixth season and earned his 162nd career victory with a complete-game shutout from Tristan Bridges.
• SCORING 10: The Tarleton offense has been phenomenal early on this season. The Texans have scored 10 or more runs five times this season, which is one short of their entire total of 10-run games from last year (6).
• HOT START: Tarleton opened the season 10-0 for the first time since 2018. The 10-0 start to a season is the second-best for Tarleton in program history – both under Mark Cumpian. That 2018 season saw the Texans start a school-record 12-0.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will head to Lake Charles, La. for a three-game series with McNeese State this weekend. The Texans and Cowboys will open with a 6:30 p.m. single game Friday night and a 1 p.m. doubleheader.