The Teams: Tarleton Texans (17-6, 3-0 WAC) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-12, 0-0 Big 12); Abilene Christian Wildcats (12-12, 4-2 WAC)
Where: Stephenville, TX; Abilene, TX
Stadium: Tarleton Softball Complex; Poly Wells Field
Times: 4 p.m. CT (Wednesday); 6 p.m. CT (Friday); 12 p.m. / 2 p.m. CT (Saturday)
Radio: 100.7 FM KTRX (Wednesday)
Video: WAC Digital Network (Wednesday); ESPN+ (Friday-Saturday)
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
A new game on the schedule and rivalry renewed as conference opponents lives on deck for the Texan Softball team. After a cancellation of Tuesday's twin bill with Prairie View A&M, the Texans have added Big 12 member Texas Tech to their schedule and will open the week with a 4 p.m. contest on Wednesday before hitting the road for a three-game WAC series at Abilene Christian starting Friday.
 
Live stats and video will be available for all games of the week. Links can be found at the softball schedule on TarletonSports.com. There will also be a radio broadcast of Wednesday's game when Kyle Crews has the call on 100.7 FM KTRX in Stephenville.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUPS

• Tarleton will welcome its second Power 5 opponent of the season to Stephenville this Wednesday in a newly added single game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT. The Texans will play host to Texas Tech of the Big 12 Conference. This is the third meeting between the Red Raiders and Texans dating back to last season. Tarleton earned its first P5 win against Texas Tech 11-9 in eighth innings last year in Lubbock. Tech leads the series 2-1.
• The Texans will visit Abilene Christian this weekend for a three-game series against the Wildcats. This will be the teams' first meeting as conference rivals since ACU departed Division II in 2013. The Texans are 29-32 all-time against ACU, including 12-15 on the road. The teams split home-and-home games last year as Division I rivals.

 
QUICK HITS

• Georgia Capell slugged her seventh home run of the season last weekend. She is tied with North Alabama's Georgia Land for the most home runs by reclassifying players. While reclassifying players are not counted among the national leaders, Capell would be tied for No. 44 in the nation in home runs.
• With two more home runs, Georgia Capell will become Tarleton State University's most prolific home run hitter ever. Between the baseball and softball program histories, Capell is currently only behind baseball star Mike Cantu (58) with 57 career home runs. She is three shy of being the first player in the purple and white to reach 60 home runs.
• Amanda DeSario's four-hit performance against UTEP is still 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.
• With two more wins, Tarleton will have recorded the 750th in program history. The Tarleton Softball program began in 1996 and enters the weekend with a record of 748-544-3.
• Tarleton has been prone to the long ball in its home games this season. Tarleton has hit 21 home runs in 10 games at the Tarleton Softball Complex. Of those 21, eight different Texans have slugged home runs – Miranda Pruitt (4), Katy Schaefer (3), Georgia Capell (3), Brady Rowland (3), Brittany Coe (3), Amanda DeSario (2), Ashlee LaRue (2), and Alexis Hoang (1).
• Tarleton improved to 10-0 at home this season with a series sweep against Sam Houston last weekend.
• With their 17^th victory of the season, Tarleton has already matched their win total from last season. One more victory will set a new standard moving forward for wins in the Division I era.
• Texas Tech becomes the second member of a Power 5 conference to visit Stephenville, joining ACC member Syracuse earlier this season. This is the first Big 12 opponent to play in Stephenville in program history.

 
WAC UPDATES

• LEAGUE STANDINGS: Tarleton sits atop the division and overall league standings with a record of 17-6 and a 3-0 mark in division play, which began for the Texans last weekend.
• 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 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 (57), runs (192), total bases (472), and doubles (58). She is also top 5 in program history in two more offensive categories: hits (237) and RBI (187). She's also on pace to be among the all-time leaders in batting average and slugging percentage. She continues to climb the ranks in the following categories:
 

Hits
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Melody Mayse	2013-16	260
2.	Nyka Wood	2015-18	258
3.	Georgia Capell	2018-22	237
4.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	208
5.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	192

 

RBI
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Nyka Wood	2015-18	191
2.	Georgia Capell	2018-22	187
3.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	149
4.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	129
5.	Katelyn Conlee	2013-16	108

 
WALK-OFF WIZARDS
Since April 9, 2021, Tarleton's home victories have been done mostly in dramatic fashion. Of Tarleton's 15 home victories over that span, 11 of them have come via walk-off. Six of Tarleton's 10 home wins this season came in the last at-bat. The 11 Tarleton walk-off wins since April 9, 2021 are:
 

Walk-Off Home Wins since April 9, 2021

April 9, 2021 – 14-5 (5) vs. CBU

April 10, 2021 – 3-2 vs. CBU

April 21, 2021 – 4-3 vs. UNT

April 23, 2021  – 2-1 vs. Seattle

May 1, 2021 – 11-1 (6) vs. GCU

Feb. 18, 2022 – 2-1 vs. Syracuse

Feb. 18, 2022 – 10-2 (6) vs. Prairie View A&M

March 1, 2022 – 5-3 vs. Texas Southern

March 1, 2022 – 10-2 (6) vs. Texas Southern

March 12, 2022 – 4-3 vs. Sam Houston

March 13, 2022 – 8-7 vs. Sam Houston

 
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 104 games since the beginning of the 2019 postseason and 79 of those have been away from Stephenville. The Texans are 36-43 in road games since May 3, 2019 and 17-5 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 (57) 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.
• AGAINST P5s: Tarleton faced off against teams from the Power 5 conferences 11 times during their first two seasons in NCAA Division I. Tarleton's first win against those schools was an 11-9 win in extra innings over Texas Tech on March 20, 2021. Most recently, Tarleton defeated Syracuse 2-1 on back-to-back home runs with two outs in the seventh on Feb. 18, 2022.
• SCORING 10: The Tarleton offense has been phenomenal early on this season. The Texans have scored 10 or more runs six times this season, tying their entire total of 10-run games from last year (6).
• HOLDING THE LEAD: After three more such games against Sam Houston, Tarleton is now 14-0 this season when leading after the fourth leading.
• LEADOFF ON LOCK: There is only one position in the Tarleton lineup that has not changed this season – the leadoff spot. Morgan Medford has started all 23 games in the No. 1 position of the Texan lineup.
• LET THE STICKS DO THE TALKIN': When Tarleton scores three runs or more this season, the Texans are 16-1 including a perfect 10-0 when topping six runs in a game.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will play another Big 12 midweek this time with a Tuesday evening trip to Waco for two games against Baylor. Then the Texans will be back in Stephenville on March 25 for a three-game series against Stephen F. Austin, starting with a 4 p.m. doubleheader.