The Teams: Tarleton Texans (2-3, 0-0 WAC) vs. Prairie View A&M (0-5, 0-0 SWAC); Creighton (2-2, 0-0 Big East); Northern Colorado (2-3, 0-0 Big Sky); Texas A&M-Commerce (0-5, 0-0 SLC); Akron (0-0, 0-0 MAC)
Where: Stephenville, TX
Stadium: Tarleton Softball Complex
Times: 3 / 5 p.m. CT (Wednesday);  2 p.m. / 6:30 p.m. CT (Friday); 11:45 a.m. / 4:15 p.m. CT (Saturday); 1:30 p.m. (Sunday)
Video: WACinternational.tv
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
Tarleton Softball will make its highly anticipated home debut for a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader against Prairie View A&M and the Whataburger Invitational this weekend as they unveil the brand-new stadium.
 
Tarleton will play its first games at its renovated home complex, which now features covered bleachers and reserved seats for the first time in program history. There will be live stats and a video broadcast for all games through the week. Tarleton will be giving away branded stadium cushions to the first 100 fans as part of its 'New Season, New Seats' promotion.
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Tarleton looks to build off the momentum of two straight wins to close out last weekend by welcoming a mid-week home opener and then turning their attention to the second annual Whataburger Invitational.
• The Texans and Prairie View have met eight times since 1997. After winning a doubleheader in 1997, the teams did not meet again until 2021 when they played as D1 opponents. Tarleton is 8-0 against Prairie View, including 6-0 in Stephenville.
• The meetings against Creighton, Northern Colorado and Akron will be the first in program history.
• In the tournament finale, Tarleton will have a rematch with Texas A&M-Commerce. The teams met last weekend and the Texans won 6-2 Sunday. Tarleton and Commerce were Lone Star Conference rivals from 2015 (TAMUC's first year of softball) through 2020 before the Texans departed for the WAC. Tarleton is in its third year of reclassification while Commerce is in its first year. Tarleton is 8-15 all-time against Commerce, including 1-0 as D1 opponents.

 
QUICK HITS

• Head coach Mark Cumpian begins his chase of 200 career wins. After winning the final two games of the Texas A&M Invitational, Cumpian enters this week with 193 career wins with seven games on the schedule this weekend.
• Tarleton will debut its brand-new stadium Wednesday with reserved seats and covered bleachers.
• This is the second consecutive season that Tarleton will host the Whataburger Invitational, a home Division I tournament. The Texans went 5-0 at last year's home event, including a walk-off 2-1 win over ACC Syracuse.
• Tarleton returns 18 letterwinners to this year's team, including the entire defensive infield unit of Brady Rowland (C), Katy Schaefer (3B), Morgan Medford (SS), Tristyn Trull (2B), MacKenzie Peterson (1B), and Austin Germain (UT). Germain started games at three different infield positions last year including 3B, 2B, and 1B. Tarleton also welcomes back Jordan Dickerson to the infield mix after she missed the entire 2022 season due to injury. Dickerson started 51 games and hit .274 with 15 RBI for Tarleton in 2021.
• Tarleton's top two arms return to the circle for their second season together – Tristan Bridges and Reagan Chism. The two Texans combined for 56 appearances, 19 wins, and 156 strikeouts in 2022. The team ERA leader Kennedy Ferguson (2.95) also returns for Tarleton after missing the final two months due to injury.

 
A LOOK AT THE WAC

• After splitting into divisions for one year, the WAC has returned to a non-divisional league platform. Tarleton was part of the Southwest Division last year.  This year, the WAC will consist of 12 schools all vying for the title of regular season champion.
• Tarleton was chosen to finish sixth in the WAC Preseason Poll released on February 2. The Texans received 62 total votes, which was two votes ahead of ACU. Grand Canyon was picked at the top of the conference with Seattle U (2), SFA (3), California Baptist (4), and Utah Valley (5) finishing ahead of the Texans.
• Morgan Medford returns to her shortstop position as a reigning second-team All-WAC selection from last spring. The junior from Denton hit .323 with 48 runs scored, including a school record five runs against Sam Houston on April 9.
• Katy Schaefer was tabbed to the Preseason All-WAC team on Feb. 2. The junior from Sweeny is coming off a .359 season with nine home runs and 49 RBI.

 
BRIDGES CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME STRIKEOUT LIST
Tristan Bridges begins the season among the Tarleton top-10 list for strikeouts. The senior enters the week with 327 career strikeouts. She now has her sights set on Haley Freyman at No. 6.
 

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.	Tristan Bridges	2019-22	327
8.	Brooke Saulters	2007-08	320
9.	A.J. Bristow	2003-05	280
10.	Jill Ratliff	1999-02	276

 
TURNING THINGS AROUND QUICKLY
The Texans' 30 wins in 2022 highlighted an incredible turn of events for Tarleton, who won only 17 games in its debut Division I season in 2021. The Texans enjoyed a 12.0 game improvement, which was the 17th best in NCAA Division I from 2021 to 2022. The programs with at least an 11.5 game improvement are as follows:
 

Biggest Turnaround from 2021 to 2022
Rank	School	Head Coach	'21 W-L	'22 W-L	Imp.
1.	Penn St.	Clarisa Crowell	7-34	32-22	18½
2.	Boise St.	Justin Shults	20-25	40-10	17½
3.	Grand Canyon	Shanon Hays	19-30	39-16	17
4.	Murray St.	Kara Amundson	22-29	40-18	14½
	South Dakota	Robert Wagner	13-39	28-25	14½
6.	Belmont	Laura Matthews	15-26	33-17	13½
	Louisiana Tech	Josh Taylor	22-30	39-20	13½
	North Florida	Marcie Higgs	21-23	42-17	13½
9.	Fla. Atlantic	Joan Joyce	12-35	29-26	13
	Georgia Tech	Aileen Morales	20-26	38-18	13
	Omaha	Mike Heard	20-28	32-14	13
	USC Upstate	Chris Hawkins	29-17	48-10	13
13.	Nebraska	Rhonda Revelle	22-22	41-16	12½
	New Mexico	Paula Congleton	10-36	26-27	12½
	Presbyterian	David Williams	15-19	36-15	12½
	UNCW	Kristy Norton	15-23	32-15	12½
17.	Akron	Meaggan Pettipiece	8-46	18-32	12
	Samford	Kimball Cassady	18-27	34-19	12
	Tarleton St.	Mark Cumpian	17-36	30-25	12
20.	Oregon St.	Laura Berg	20-26	39-22	11½
	Rutgers	Kristen Butler	8-36	25-30	11½
To determine games improved, add the difference in victories between the two seasons to the difference in losses, then divide by two. Ties not counted. This includes postseason play.

 
NOTABLES

• REPLACING A LEGEND: When the Texans take the field against Texas A&M on Feb. 9, it will be the first game since April 28, 2018 that Georgia Capell's name won't be on the lineup card. Tarleton's all-time leader in home runs, runs scored, total bases, hits, etc. wrapped up what is certain to be a Hall of Fame career last May at the NISC. She had played in 186 consecutive games at Tarleton since that 2018 regular season finale at UT Permian Basin in Odessa.
• TRIO OF TEXAN TWIRLERS: 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 268 of the 418 games (64%) Tarleton has played in the last eight years.
• BETTER TOGETHER: Mark Cumpian and Stefanie Phillips have reached the decade mark of time spent together. The two joined forces as assistants under former head coach Julie Mata in 2014. They spent three seasons as assistant coaches together before Cumpian took over as head coach and Phillips became the top assistant. The coaching duo have been together for 469 games and have a record of 275-194 (.586)  together.
• CUMPIAN AMONG THE BEST: While reclassifying programs are not counted among the national records and yearly record books, Tarleton head coach Mark Cumpian would be considered among the elite coaches in the nation. The seventh year head coach enters the season with a career record of 193-116 for a win percentage of .625, which would rank him among the top 50 active coaches in the country for win percentage.
• WELCOME TO TARLETON, KELCI HILL: Kelci Hill made quite the impression on Tarleton's lineup in the opening weekend of the season. Hill led the team with four RBI, 10 total bases, seven hits, and a .588 slugging percentage. The junior outfielder also had a walk-off double for Tarleton's first win of the season against Northern Kentucky.
• WALK-OFF FOR NO. 1: Kelci Hill's walk-off double for Tarleton against Northern Kentucky marked the first time since 2015 that Tarleton's first win of the season came on a walk-off. Tarleton went on to win 33 games in 2015 and advance to the Division II Super Regional Series. The Texans got a walk-off single by Kady Crow to defeat Southwestern Oklahoma 15-14 for their first win of 2015.
• EYEING 30 AGAIN: Tarleton is coming off its first 30-win season as a member of NCAA Division I. The Texans reached 30 wins by winning the second game of the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) in Fort Collins, Colo. last May. The Texans' invitation to compete in the NISC marked the first postseason invitation for any program at the Division I level for Tarleton State University.
• ALUMNI WEEKEND: Tarleton Softball will be welcoming home former letterwinners for the tournament as part of an alumni weekend. One of the alumni will be in the opposing dugout as Nyka Wood returns to Stephenville as an assistant coach for Akron. Wood is No. 2 all-time in Tarleton history for games played (227) and RBI (191). She is also No. 3 all-time in program history for hits (258) and defensive putouts (948).

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will wrap up an eight-game home stand with a Wednesday night single game against North Texas at 6 p.m. in Stephenville.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tickets to softball home games are NOT available for purchase this season. Due to limited capacity and 50-percent capacity limitations, only player family members on the official team will call list, Texan Club members and Tarleton students will be permitted inside the stands at the Tarleton Softball Complex this season.
 
SCHEDULE UPDATES
UTAH VALLEY: The game times for Tarleton's series at Utah Valley have been altered due to graduation ceremonies on campus. The new start times for the final series of the season are 3 p.m. CT on May 7 and 11 a.m. CT (DH) on May 8.
 
 
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.