The Teams: Tarleton Texans (18-14, 4-5 WAC) vs. UTEP Miners (11-19, 2-7 C-USA); Lamar Cardinals (5-20, 1-8 WAC)
Where: Stephenville, TX; Beaumont, TX
Stadium: Tarleton Softball Complex; Lamar Softball Complex
Times: 4 p.m. / 6:30 p.m. CT (Wednesday); 4 p.m. / 6:30 p.m. CT (Friday); 12 p.m. CT (Saturday)
Video: WAC Digital Network
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
Tarleton is set to close out its five-game homestand with a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader against UTEP at 4 p.m. before returning to WAC play with a three-game weekend series at Lamar.
 
Live stats and video will be available for all games of the week. Links can be found at the softball schedule on TarletonSports.com.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUPS

• Tarleton and UTEP have met twice and the Texans have wins in both meetings. The Texans and Miners met for the first time on March 20, 2021 in Lubbock and the Texans scored six unanswered runs to erase a 4-0 deficit and win 6-4. Tristan Bridges pitched 5.1 innings of five-hit, shutout relief to earn the win last season. The teams met in the Lobo Classic this season and Tarleton rallied again behind a strong relief effort from Kennedy Ferguson.
• Tarleton and Lamar met once last season in Denton during tournament play and the Texans lost 4-1 to the Cardinals. This will be the first meeting between the two schools as WAC opponents.

 
QUICK HITS

• Georgia Capell leads the team with 10 home runs. She leads all Division I reclassifying players in home runs. This marks her third career season with 10 or more long balls.
• Tarleton has struggled to find offense of late. The Texans have been held to one run or less in each of their last five games. Over that span, however, Austin Germain and Makayla Romeo have found a spark at the dish by each hitting .400.
• 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 749-552-3.
• 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).
• Mackenzie Peterson has been one of the elite defenders in the WAC over her career at Tarleton. She enters the weekend with a clean 1.000 fielding percentage in 96 chances this season. It has been a full calendar year since her last defensive miscue (March 30, 2021 at Texas State).

 
WAC UPDATES

• 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 (495), RBI (192) and doubles (62). She is also closing in on the all-time hits record (247), as well as 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	247
4.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	208
5.	Alicia Petersma	1999-02	192

 
BRIDGES CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME STRIKEOUT LIST
Tristan Bridges has also moved into the Tarleton top-10 list for strikeouts. The junior enters the weekend with 267 career strikeouts and is nine behind Jill Ratliff for ninth in program history.
 

Strikeouts
#	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	267

 
 
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

• 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. With 59 home runs (and counting), Capell has passed Tarleton Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Cantu for the most home runs (58) by and Tarleton State University diamond sport athlete.
• 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. It's 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 32 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 16-6 this season when allowing five runs or fewer, including a 7-1 mark when allowing two runs or less.
• FRESHMAN STEPPING UP: Freshman Paige Nunes made quite the impression in her first two collegiate at bats 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.
• FAMILIAR FACE IN THE CIRCLE: Tristan Bridges has entered elite Tarleton pitching compay. The junior southpaw has moved into the top 10 in four categories that are a testament to her career durability. She enters the weekend among the top-10 pitchers in program history in pitching appearances (79), innings pitched (384.0), complete games (37), and games started (67).
• 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 252 of the 391 games (64%) Tarleton has played eight seasons.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will begin the second round of WAC divisional play as the Texans start their second series of the season against Sam Houston, this time in Huntsville. The Texans and Bearkats will play a 4 p.m. CT doubleheader on Friday and a 12 p.m. single game Saturday.