The Teams: Tarleton Texans (17-14, 2-1 WAC) vs. GCU (26-4, 2-1 WAC)
Where: Phoenix, AZ
Stadium: GCU Softball Stadium
Times: 6:30 p.m. / 9 p.m. CT (Friday); 2 p.m. CT (Saturday)
Video: ESPN+
 
TEXAN SOFTBALL GAME DAY
Tarleton's WAC-opening road tour continues in downtown Phoenix, Arizona this weekend when the Texans visit Grand Canyon for three games. There will be live stats for all games through the week. The games will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
SERIES HISTORY

• Tarleton will make its second straight WAC road trip, this time heading to Phoenix for another showdown with one of the teams atop the WAC standings: Grand Canyon.
• Tarleton opened WAC play against Seattle U last weekend and will now play Grand Canyon in week two of league play on the road. The first two league opponents for the Texans are the first two teams in the WAC to reach 20 wins this season. Tarleton won two of three in Seattle last weekend.
• Grand Canyon and Tarleton met for the first and only time in a doubleheader on May 1, 2021 in Stephenville. A rainy weekend forced the games to be played on a local turf field when Tarleton's former natural surface was unplayable in, what would be the final series in Stephenville without a turf field. The teams were able to get two games in before rain cancelled the finale. The teams split the doubleheader that day.

 
QUICK HITS

• Kiana Gibson gave Tarleton a much-needed offensive spark against Seattle U last weekend. The junior from Elgin stepped into the No. 5 spot of the lineup and went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, and five RBI. It was her second and third start of the season, and her first since the season-opener at Texas A&M.
• Austin Germain has been one of the best in the nation at collecting two-base hits. The sophomore from San Antonio leads the team with 13 doubles in the 29 games she's played. Her average of 0.45 doubles per game would rank her No. 11 in the nation. She is second in the WAC behind only NM State's Kendal Lunar (0.55), who is No. 2 in the nation.
• Germain isn't just hitting doubles; she's putting bat on ball with the best of them. The sophomore enters this week as one of the toughest hitters in the nation to strikeout. She leads the WAC and all reclassifying players with a 75.0 percent strikeout average (75 ABs, 1 K). That would rank her No. 2 in the nation. Katy Schaefer (15.0) and Morgan Medford (16.4) are among the top seven in that category among reclassifying players in the nation.
• As a team, Tarleton is tied for No. 12 in the nation and leads all reclassifying teams with 48 doubles this season. Germain leads the Texans with 10 two-baggers as one of 13 different Texans with a double this season.

 
BROADCASTING ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER

• Part of the latest renovations to the Tarleton Baseball Complex and Tarleton Softball Complex included the capability to match ESPN standards of multiple camera angles on the broadcast. With that, Tarleton will stream select 2023 baseball and softball home games on ESPN+.
• Over the last two years and this past week, Tarleton has broadcast all of their baseball and softball home games on WAC International, formerly called WAC Digital Network. Due to specific renovations in regard to the ability to have added camera angles, Texan games can now reach a larger audience on the ESPN platform.

 
A LOOK AT THE WAC

• 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.
• On Feb. 20, Katy Schaefer and Grace Garcia were named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week for their dominant showings last week. This is the first WAC Player of the Week award for both players. Schaefer couldn't be stopped at the plate and led the Texans with a .650 (13-20) batting average while driving in nine RBI, including one home run and four doubles. Garcia went 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00 over 13.2 innings, allowing zero runs on five hits, with 10 strikeouts and zero walks. She pitched two shutouts and improved to 4-0 on the season. She capped off her week with a six-inning perfect game on Sunday against Texas A&M-Commerce. It was the second perfect game in program history and first since 1997.
• Garcia got the nod from the league office for the second time this season on Monday, March 20 after a stellar performance in the Pacific Northwest. The senior right-hander bested Seattle U, not once but, twice to lift the Texans to a series win. For the week, she threw 16.2 innings of work and struck out seven. She is the second Tarleton pitcher to win the WAC Pitcher of the Week award twice in the same season.
• After the first week of WAC play, Tarleton sits in a four-way tie for second place in the standings with a 2-1 league record. Utah Tech and Stephen F. Austin swept their opening series last weekend to hold onto the league's top spot.

 
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 372 career strikeouts. She now has her sights set on Caryn Holbrook at No. 4 with 384.
 

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.	Tristan Bridges	2019-22	372
	Samantha Swanda	2011-12	349
7.	Haley Freyman	2015-18	333
8.	Brooke Saulters	2007-08	320
9.	A.J. Bristow	2003-05	280
10.	Jill Ratliff	1999-02	276

 
OVER 500 INNINGS FOR BRIDGES
Tristan Bridges has been a mainstay in the pitching circle for Tarleton since day one. The senior surpassed the 500-inning plateau. She reached her 500th inning with a swinging strikeout to lead off the bottom of the third inning against Tulsa on March 3.
 

Innings Pitched
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Haley Freyman	2015-18	678.0
2.	Carla Geeslin	2001-04	647.1
3.	Jordan Withrow	2017-20	608.0
4.	Randi Fentress	2011-14	563.0
5.	Jill Ratliff	1999-02	558.0
6.	Caryn Holbrook	1997-00	554.0
7.	Tristan Bridges	2019-22	523.1
8.	A.J. Bristow	2003-05	474.0
9.	Brooke Saulters	2007-08	423.0
10.	Samantha Swanda	2011-12	356.2

 
MEDFORD MAKES THE PLAY
In game two of the series at Seattle U, Morgan Medford became the sixth player in Tarleton history to record 300 career defensive assists. She is currently No. 6 all-time and is chasing the all-time leader, Kelly Siskowski, at 367.
 

Defensive Assists
#	Player	Seasons	Total
1.	Kelly Siskowski	1996-99	367
2.	Nicole Cone	2006-09	358
3.	Cheryl Dickens	2000-03	343
4.	Jennifer Cervenka	1996-99	330
5.	Arianna Rodriguez	2010-13	322
6.	Morgan Medford	2020-22	303
7.	Jalayne Rinewalt	1996-99	296
8.	Savannah Stech	2015-17	288
9.	April Gonzalez	2007-10	280
10.	Delaney Wayland	2015-17	263

 
 
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.

 
CUMPIAN JOINS ELITE TEXAN COACHING COMPANY
It hasn't taken long, but Mark Cumpian has already climbed to the elite status of Tarleton Athletics coaches. With his 200th career win last Sunday, Cumpian is the eighth head coach in Tarleton Athletics history (seventh with NCAA wins during their tenure) to reach the 200-win milestone. He is the fourth-fastest coach at Tarleton to reach the milestone and the fastest among baseball or softball coaches to reach the plateau.
 

Fastest Tarleton Coach to 200 Wins
#	Coach	Sport	Games to Reach 200
1.	Jan Lowery (all NAIA)	W. Basketball	277
2.	Ronnie Hearne	W. Basketball	299
3.	Lonn Reisman	M. Basketball	307
4.	Mark Cumpian	Softball	316
5.	Jack Allen	Baseball	330
	Julie Mata	Softball	330
7.	Mary Schindler	Volleyball	339
8.	Bryan Conger	Baseball	350

 
NOTABLES

• SCHAEFER ECLIPSES 100 RBI: Katy Schaefer is entering Tarleton elite territory as an all-time run producer. The Sweeny, Texas native drove in her 100th career RBI with a run-scoring single up the middle on March 5 against Maine. Schaefer is tied for No. 9 on the Tarleton all-time list and is five RBI away from entering the top 5.
• RUN HOME, MORGAN MEDFORD: Morgan Medford already holds the Tarleton record for runs scored in a single game and now she has top-10 all-time in that category for her resumé. With a run scored against Houston, Morgan Medford passed Amanda Smith for No. 10 all-time with 104 runs scored. She is three runs away from passing Kelli Gayle (2006-08) for No. 9.
• 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 495 games and have a record of 290-205 (.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 week with a career record of 208-127 for a win percentage of .621, which would rank him among the top 50 active coaches in the country for win percentage.
• 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. Tarleton needs 13 more victories with 25 games remaining in the regular season.
• THAT EPIC SUNDAY WIN: On Sunday, Feb. 19, Tarleton enjoyed quite the afternoon. Grace Garcia became the second pitcher in program history to throw a perfect game. She went 18 up and 18 down over six innings to defeat Texas A&M-Commerce 8-0. She joins Caryn Holbrook (3/29/97) as the only Texans with a perfect game in program history. Mark Cumpian became just the seventh head coach of any sport in Tarleton State Athletics history to win 200 games for Tarleton. He notched career win No. 200 in his 316th game at the helm of Texan Softball. Not to be lost in the shuffle of Cumpian's milestone win and Garcia's perfecto, the Texan offense set a new school record with seven doubles in Sunday's game. The previous record of six was set in 1997 and has been matched five times since, most recently in 2017.
• FINDING THE RIGHT NINE: Tarleton has used 26 different starting lineups through the first 31 games of the season. The starting nine from the last two games at Seattle U is the first to win consecutive games for Tarleton this season.
• HILL'S FOUR-HIT GAME: Kelci Hill enjoyed a career night on March 1 against Lamar. The Texan centerfielder went 4-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI. This was the third four-hit game of Tarleton's NCAA Division I era. Hill joins Amanda DeSario (2/25/22) and Morgan Medford (4/9/22) as the only Texans to log four hits in a game since moving to the WAC.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will return to Stephenville for a full week of home games, beginning Tuesday with a midweek doubleheader against Grambling State at 1 p.m. before hosting California Baptist for a weekend series. Friday's game against CBU will be PURPLE OUT for Tarleton and will be giving away 100 free purple visors.