The Teams: Tarleton Texans (18-11, 4-2 WAC) vs. Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks (11-16, 4-2 WAC)
Where: Stephenville, TX
Stadium: Tarleton Softball Complex
Times: 4 p.m. / 6:30 p.m. CT (Friday); 1 p.m. CT Saturday
Radio: 100.7 FM KTRX
Video: WAC Digital Network
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
The Texans are set to return home to the friendly confines of the Tarleton Softball Complex this weekend for a crucial, three-game showdown against WAC Southwest Division preseason favorites, Stephen F. Austin. The series begins Friday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader and concludes Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
Live stats and video will be available for all games of the weekend. Links can be found at the softball schedule on TarletonSports.com. There will also be a radio broadcast of the games when Kyle Crews has the call on 100.7 FM KTRX in Stephenville.
 
Additional bleachers have been added to the Tarleton Softball Complex and will be available this weekend and remain for the rest of the season.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUPS

• Tarleton will welcome Stephen F. Austin for the first time in program history this weekend when the Texans and Lady Jacks square off for the first time as WAC rivals.
• The teams met twice last season in Denton at the North Texas Invitational and split the first two meetings. SFA won the first meeting 6-0 but Tarleton got the last laugh of the weekend with a 2-1 victory.
• Julia Wernet fired a complete game, one-run performance in the 2-1 win against Stephen F. Austin last season. Katy Schaefer enters the weekend with great success against the Lady Jacks. She is 4-7 in two career games against SFA.
• Stephen F. Austin head coach Nicole Dickson will be opposite of Tarleton for just her third, fourth, and fifth games as an opposing head coach but has quite the history against the Texans. A former pitcher for Eastern New Mexico, the SFA coach played against Tarleton during the 2007-08 seasons while a member of the Zias. She appeared in four games against the Texans in her two seasons and went 1-0 with three no decisions. The Texans won two of the four games in which she appeared. On March 9, 2007, Dickson started an surrendered eight runs in four innings against the Texans in a game that current Tarleton OF Ashlee LaRue's aunt, Brooke, went 2-2 with two walks, three runs scored and a home run.

 
QUICK HITS

• Georgia Capell slugged her 10th home run of the season last weekend. She leads all Division I reclassifying players in home runs. This marks her third career season with 10 or more long balls.
• Freshman Paige Nunes made quite the impression in her first two collegiate at bats last weekend against ACU. In her first career AB, Nunes pinch hit and slugged a two-run double to tie the game. In the second game of the doubleheader, she got her second career at bat in a pinch hit and drove in two more runs – this time for the game-winning runs. She earned her first career start in game two Tuesday at Baylor with a 1-for-3 performance.
• Amanda DeSario's four-hit performance against UTEP is still the only 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.
• Tarleton's next win will be the 750th in program history. The Tarleton Softball program began in 1996 and enters the weekend with a record of 749-549-3.
• Tarleton has been prone to the long ball in its home games this season. Tarleton has hit 22 home runs in 11 games at the Tarleton Softball Complex. Of those 22, eight different Texans have slugged home runs – Miranda Pruitt (4), Georgia Capell (4), Katy Schaefer (3), Brady Rowland (3), Brittany Coe (3), Amanda DeSario (2), Ashlee LaRue (2), and Alexis Hoang (1).
• Tarleton enters Tuesday's games with three players having hits in at least three straight games – Georgia Capell (8), Katy Schaefer (4), and Paige Nunes (3).

 
WAC UPDATES

• LEAGUE STANDINGS: Tarleton is in second place behind Abilene Christian in the divisional standings with a 4-2 WAC record. Tarleton's 18-11 overall record is the best in the Southwest Division.
• 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.

 
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 (60), runs (199), total bases (494), RBI (192) and doubles (62). She is also closing in on the all-time hits record (246), as well as 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	246
4.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	208
5.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	192

 
BRIDGES MOVES INTO TOP-10 STRIKEOUT LIST
Tristan Bridges has also moved into the Tarleton top-10 list for strikeouts. The junior enters the weekend with 251 career strikeouts and is 25 behind Jill Ratliff for ninth in program history. She continues to climb the ranks in the following categories:
 

Hits
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Jordan Withrow	2017-20	676
2.	Carla Geeslin	2001-04	521
3.	Randi Fentress	2011-14	445
4.	Caryn Holbrook	1997-00	384
5.	Samantha Swanda	2011-12	349
6.	Haley Freyman	2015-18	333
7.	Brooke Saulters	2007-08	320
8.	A.J. Bristow	2003-05	280
9.	Jill Ratliff	1999-02	276
10.	Tristan Bridges	2019-22	251

 
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 110 games since the beginning of the 2019 postseason and 84 of those have been away from Stephenville. The Texans are 37-47 in road games since May 3, 2019. Tarleton went 713 days between home losses (April 27, 2019 to April 9, 2021).
• HOME RUN QUEEN OF TARLETON: With a three-run home run against ACU on March 19, 2022, Georgia Capell hit her 59th career long ball to set the Tarleton State University record for most home runs in the school's diamond sport history (baseball and softball). She became the first Texan ever to reach 60 career home runs with a solo home run against Baylor on March 22.
• 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 12 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. Its most recent win came when 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 seven times this season, topping their entire total of 10-run games from the 2021 season (6).
• 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 27 games in the No. 1 position of the Texan lineup.
• LET THE STICKS DO THE TALKIN': Tarleton is 17-2 this season when scoring three or more runs in a game. Within those games, the Texans are 11-1 when scoring six or more.
• WINNING IN THE CIRCLE: Tarleton is 16-5 this season when allowing five runs or fewer, including a perfect 7-0 mark when allowing two runs or less.
• WELL ABOVE AVERAGE: While averages will be fluid throughout the remainder of the season, Georgia Capell remains on pace to finish among the best in program history for batting average and slugging percentage. She enters the weekend with a .372 career batting average, which currently places her fifth all-time, and a .747 career slugging percentage, which is No. 2 in program history.
• BRIDGES COMPLETES A SOLID TRIO: Since Stefanie Phillips joined Mark Cumpian on the staff in 2015, Tarleton has developed three of the top pitchers in the history of the program. Since 2015, the combination of Haley Freyman, Jordan Withrow, and Tristan Bridges have combined to start 250 of the 388 games (64%) Tarleton has played eight seasons.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will close out this current five-game homestand on Wednesday when the Texans host UTEP for a 4 p.m. doubleheader. Then Tarleton will hit the road for a three-game road series at Lamar.