The Teams: No. 11 Tarleton Texans (29-23, 14-10 WAC) vs. No. 6 North Alabama Lions (38-18, 15-9 ASUN)
Where: Fort Collins, CO
Stadium: TC Colorado Field
Times: 4 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. CT (Friday)
Video: FloSoftball.com
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
The first national postseason berth in Tarleton's NCAA Division I era belongs to the Texan Softball team. Tarleton has been chosen to take part in the fourth annual, 12-team National Invitational Softball Championships hosted by Triple Crown Sports. It is the only non-NCAA postseason tournament in the nation for the sport of softball.
 
The Texans will open tournament play Friday evening in the final game of the opening round. Tarleton, who was seeded No. 11 in the tournament, will take on No. 6-seed North Alabama at 4 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. CT. The tournament is double elimination and will continue through May 26.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
A full video production of the entire tournament will be available at FloSoftball.com. Live stats will also be available. Tarleton games will also be aired on the radio at 100.7 FM in Stephenville or online at TarletonSports.com/ListenLive.
 
ABOUT THE NISC
Teams had to have an RPI in the national top 100 or have a winning record if its RPI was greater than 100. Conference record, results against the RPI Top 50, last 10 games, notable wins, upset losses and player injuries also were taken into consideration. The complete tournament field is as follows:
 

Seed	Team	Conference	Record
1.	Virginia	ACC	27-24
2.	Baylor	Big XII	28-24
3.	UNLV	Mountain West	38-13
4.	Central Arkansas	ASUN	35-20
5.	George Washingon	Atlantic 10	36-15
6.	North Alabama	ASUN	38-18
7.	Rutgers	Big 10	25-28
8.	Stephen F. Austin	WAC	31-25
9.	Bowling Green	MAC	32-19
10.	UC San Diego	Big West	27-26
11.	Tarleton	WAC	29-23
12.	Kansas	Big XII	16-34

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Tarleton and North Alabama will meet in the first round of the National Invitational Softball Championships Friday, May 20 at 4 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. CT. North Alabama (38-18) enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed of the tournament out of the ASUN Conference while Tarleton is the No. 11 seed with a record of 29-23.
• North Alabama is in its final year of reclassification to NCAA Division I while Tarleton is in year two of its reclassification. Both schools made the jump from Division II – UNA as a member of the Gulf South and Tarleton in the Lone Star.
• Tarleton holds a 1-0 lead in the all-time series against UNA. The two teams met on February 23, 2001 when Tarleton competed in the North Alabama Classic. The Texans won 2-0 behind a combined shutout from Hall of Famer Carla Geeslin (5.1) and Kerrie Short (1.2).

 
QUICK HITS

• Including conference and Division II regional tournaments, Tarleton head coach Mark Cumpian is 6-9 all-time in the postseason, including a 5-4 mark in his last nine postseason games dating back to 2018.
• The matchup against North Alabama features three of the top home run hitters in the country and the three best among reclassifying schools. Georgia Capell leads Tarleton with 14 home runs while UNA's Georgia Land (17) and Harley Stokes (15) are the only reclassifying players in the country with more long balls than Capell. Land leads the three with a 0.32 HR/game mark while Capell and Stokes are tied at 0.27 HR/game.
• True freshmen Austin Germain and Tristyn Trull have been the poster children of versatility both in the field and in the lineup. Germain and Trull have each batted in a team-high six different spots of the lineup this season. Germain is hitting .390 or higher in the No. 5 and 6 spots of the lineup while Trull is .300 or higher in three different spots.
• Tristan Bridges has 103 strikesouts this season, which is a new career high for her in a season and her first career 100-strikeout season.
• Amanda DeSario ended her debut season with the Texans by having ripped through WAC pitching. The freshman centerfielder from Keller ends the season with an 11-game WAC hitting streak still intact.

 
CAPELL REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
Georgia Capell has put together a Hall of Fame worthy resumé. At Stephen F. Austin earlier this season, Georgia Capell claimed the program's all-time hit record, which marked her eighth statistical school record. Capell is the program's all-time leader in games played, hits, runs scored, doubles, total bases, RBI, home runs, and hit by pitches. She is also on pace to be among the all-time leaders in batting average and slugging percentage.
 
BRIDGES CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME STRIKEOUT LIST
In addition to her longevity in the circle, Tristan Bridges has also moved into the Tarleton top-10 list for strikeouts. The junior enters the weekend with 307 career strikeouts. She now has her sights set on Brooke Saulters at No. 7.
 

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.	Tristan Bridges	2019-22	302
9.	A.J. Bristow	2003-05	280
10.	Jill Ratliff	1999-02	276

 
WALK-OFF WIZARDS
From April 9, 2021 to March 13, 2022, Tarleton's home victories were done in dramatic fashion. Tarleton has had 12 walk-off wins in that span. Seven of Tarleton's home wins this season came in the last at-bat. The 12 Tarleton walk-off wins in that time 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

April 29, 2022 – 4-3 vs. Lamar

 
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 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.
• WINNING SEASON: Tarleton locked in its first winning season as a Division I program in just its second year of reclassification. The Texans secured a winning campaign with a win over SFA on April 22.
• EYEING 30 WINS: Tarleton is one win away from securing a 30-win season. It would be the 12th 30-win season in Tarleton history and the fourth in six seasons under head coach Mark Cumpian.
• DOUBLE-DIGIT HITS: The Texans have had 17 games with over 10 hits in a single game, the most in Tarleton's Division I era. The 16 hits against Sam Houston on April 9 was the most in a single game in Tarleton's Division I history. It's the most double-digit hit games for Tarleton in a season since 2018 (31).
• SCORING 10: The Texans have scored 10 or more runs nine 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 52 games in the top position of the Texan lineup.
• LET THE STICKS DO THE TALKIN': Tarleton is 27-7 this season when scoring three or more runs in a game. Within those games, the Texans are 17-4 when scoring six or more.
• WINNING IN THE CIRCLE: Tarleton is 26-11 this season when allowing five runs or fewer, including an 15-2 mark when allowing two runs or less.
• 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 (93), innings pitched (442.0), complete games (43), and games started (78).
• BRIDGES COMPLETES A SOLID TRIO: Since 2015, Tarleton has developed three of the top pitchers in the history of the program. The combination of Haley Freyman, Jordan Withrow, and Tristan Bridges have combined to start 263 of the 410 games (64%) Tarleton has played in those eight seasons.
• RECORD-SETTING RUN SCORER: Morgan Medford set a new single-game school record with five runs scored against Sam Houston on April 9.
• D1SOFTBALL.COM FEATURE STORY: Graham Hays wrote a feature story entitled "Division II or Division I, Tarleton State's Georgia Capell Defies Labels" which was featured by @NCAASoftball on twitter. The story talks of Capell's success at Tarleton. Check out the entire story, at D1Softball.com. To read the entire story, click here.
• LOVIN' THE LONG BALL: Tarleton is 10-1 this season when they hit two or more home runs in a game.
• 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 133 games since the beginning of the 2019 postseason and 94 of those have been away from Stephenville. The Texans are 42-52 in road games since May 3, 2019. Tarleton went 713 days between home losses (April 27, 2019 to April 9, 2021).

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will play through the tournament. The winner of Friday's game will face No. 3 seed UNLV on Saturday at 4 p.m. The loser will play an elimination game against the loser of Baylor vs. Rutgers/UC San Diego. The complete bracket is available at womensnisc.com.