STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Texans' final weekend at home is their most important of the season as they are set to host the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah that will decide the postseason fate of both teams. This marks the first meetings between the two teams.
All three game times have been slightly altered to avoid forecasted inclement weather.The three-game series with the Thunderbirds will get underway on Friday at 4 p.m. with Game 2 following at 6:30 p.m. If the Texans sweep the doubleheader and both Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian are swept in their Friday night doubleheader, the Texans will lock up at least the 7-seed in the WAC Softball Tournament.
If Tarleton State completes the sweep over Southern Utah, UT Arlington is swept in their final conference series and SFA and ACU finish 1-2 or are swept the Texans will move to the No. 6 seed. If both SFA and ACU are swept this weekend the Texans need just a single win to make their second straight tournament berth.
The final game of the series is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch on Saturday. This also marks Senior Day for seven different Texans who will don the Purple and White for their final time at the Tarleton Softball Complex. The seven seniors are
Jordan Dickerson,
Makenzie Dunbar,
Kelci Hill,
Ashlee LaRue,
Brady Rowland,
Katy Schaefer and
Kayla Wallace and they will be honored postgame on Saturday.
The last time the Texans were in action, they earned a 2-1 WAC series win at Seattle U. The Purple and White swept the doubleheader on Friday with 3-1 victories in both.
Individually for the Texans, Hill has the fourth most hits in the nation with 76 trailing behind Louisiana's Mihyia Davis (No. 3, 78), Boston U's Kayla Roncin (No. 2, 79) and Grand Canyon's Ashley Trierweiler (No. 1, 81). She is tied 15th in doubles in the nation with 17 this season. The senior outfielder has five triples, tied for 20th most in the nation. The California native is 39th in total bases with 109.
Schaefer continues to rewrite the history books of Tarleton State Softball in a trio of categories. She currently sits third all-time in home runs with 39 and is just two away from tying Arianna Rodriguez (41, 2010-2013). The Sweeny, Texas, native, also sits third all-time in RBI with 185, just six away from tying Nyka Wood (191, 2015-2018).
Individually for the Trailblazers, Karmyna Becerra leads the team in batting average with a .350 average and has an OPS of 1.026, also best on the team. Becerra also leads the Trailblazers in hits this season with 50. She also leads the team in long balls with 10 thus far this season. Ariyana Miranda leads the team in RBI with 28.
The WAC Softball Tournament is set for May 8-11 in Seattle. Seattle U will be the host school for the 2024 tournament.
The three-game series Friday-Saturday will air live on ESPN+ as well as live stats will be available for all contests as well.
