PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Following the Texans conference home opening series Friday-Saturday, the Purple and White head south for midweek action with the Panthers on Tuesday.
Last time the two teams met, Tarleton State outscored Prairie View A&M 17-8 in 13 innings across the doubleheader in Stephenville. The Texans won Game 1 of the doubleheader 10-2 (5) off a walk-off hit from Katy Schaefer followed by a 7-6 (8) win in Game 2 thanks to a walk-off hit up the middle by Hayden Fox.
Tarleton State holds the all-time series lead over UT Arlington 10-0 as the Purple and White have outscored the Purple and Gold 92-27 including two shutouts and five run-rule victories. The largest margin of victory for the Stephenville squad came on Feb. 23, 2015 when Tarleton State shutout Prairie View A&M for the first of two times on the day winning 10-0 (5) followed by a 6-0 win later in the day.
The trip south for the Purple and White marks just the second trip ever to the home of the Panthers with the first and only time thus far coming in 2021 when Tarleton State defeated Prairie View A&M 11-3 (6) and 11-2.
Through four weeks, the Texans have multiple athletes leaving their mark nationally. Austin German currently sits 27th in the nation in doubles with 10 on the season and leads the WAC. With her 10 doubles through 28 games, she ranks 59th in doubles per game. With lots of doubles come lots of hits and she currently ranks 17th in the nation in hits with 41. With all the offensive power from Germain, she is the toughest to strike out on the Texans roster as she strikes out once every 45.5 plate appearances.
Other Texans top in the nation include Kalyn Hill who has caught 10 base runners stealing which puts her eighth in the nation and leads all of the WAC. Fox sits fourth in the nation in sac bunts per game at 0.35 as the nation's leader is at 0.50 in Elle Carter of ULM. Jaelynn Duke is 27th in sac flies with three thus far, just three behind the nation's leaders in Hazyl Gray of Santa Clara and Madison Petty of Furman who each have six.
On the pitching side of things, Alexa Rehmeier and Sadie Beck are currently tied for 31st in the nation in saves with two each. Shelby Schultz continues to pound the strike zone as she sits 40th in the nation in strikeouts with 75 thus far and leads the WAC. She also ranks 31st in strikeouts per seven innings at 8.8 and leads WAC.
In the WAC, the Purple and White continue to hold four of the top-12 spots in batting average as Germain leads the Texans ranking second in the conference. As a team, Tarleton State is in the top-three of 19 different statistical categories in the WAC.
First pitch on Tuesday is set for 1 p.m. in Prairie View, Texas. The game be streamed live on YouTube and live stats will also be available.
Following the Texans trip to the Panthers, Tarleton State will continue the road trip as they will head out west for a three-game conference series with Grand Canyon Friday-Saturday.
For the latest news on the Texans, follow Tarleton Softball on Facebook, Instagram and X @tarletonsoftball.
