TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler softball program will take on Arkansas-Monticello in their 2022 home openers at Suddenlink Field on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
 
The Patriots are set for a single game on Friday night at 6 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon scheduled for a 1 p.m. start. #1 UT Tyler enters the weekend with a perfect 11-0 record on the year, having played their first 11 contests of the year at neutral site facilities or on the road.
 
UNANIMOUS NO. 1
 
 The UT Tyler softball program received all 16 first-place votes to enter the first regular season edition of the 2022 NFCA Division II Coaches Poll as the unanimous no. 1 ranked team in Division II softball. The Patriots earned 400 points to lead the way for five ranked Lone Star Conference teams after beginning the year 9-0 for the first time since 2007.
 
Valdosta State (no. 2), North Georgia (no. 3) Concordia Irvine (no. 4) and West Texas A&M (no. 5) rounded out the top five, while the Patriots were the lone team to receive a first-place vote. Central Oklahoma, who UT Tyler run-ruled by a 17-4 final tally in five innings back on Feb. 6, moved up to the no. 16 spot, while five teams that UT Tyler will face at some point this season received a top 25 ranking.
 
The four additional LSC teams that received a ranking in the first regular season poll included West Texas A&M (no. 5), Angelo State (no. 9), Oklahoma Christian (no. 15), and Texas A&M-Kingsville (no. 20). The NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions.
 
A MIDWEEK CLINIC
 
UT Tyler continued to build on the program's eye-opening with 18-5 and 5-1 wins over Our Lady of the Lake on Wednesday afternoon in San Antonio, Texas. The Patriots offense notched double-digit hit totals in both games and hit four homers in the game one victory, while Sarah Gartman tossed a complete game shutout in game two, allowing just a pair of hits in her 7.0 complete innings of work.
 
Courtney Plocheck, Hanna Fradkin and Ashley Perez all had five hits between the two games, and led a UT Tyler offense that generated a season-high 18 runs in the game one victory.
 
BOLSTERING THE STARTING CIRCLE
 
The main question, if there were any questions, regarding the 2022 Patriots was how head coach Mike Reed and staff would address the loss of last year's LSC Newcomer of the Year and solidified no. 2 starter behind no. 1 starter Payton Foster. It has taken less than three weeks for the Patriots to answer the question, as Sarah Gartman and Kaylee Davis have both been spectacular in their respective starts so far in 2022.
 
The depth of now having three high-level starting options will provide yet another advantage for the Patriots with LSC play looming in a few weeks.
 
Gartman is 3-0 on the year with a 0.41 ERA in 17.0 innings pitched, and has limited her opposition to just a single earned run in her three starts. Davis has been equally effective, posting a 1.95 ERA of her own in her 14.1 innings pitched while striking out 18 total batters on the year.
 
With the reliable Foster as the presumed no. 1 starter, the option to have either Davis or Gartman as the game two starter, and the other come in for if-need bullpen work, the Patriots have a luxury not many Division II programs have. Throw into the mix a host of other arms that have seen limited action so far that could work their way into games down the line, and the pitching staff for the Patriots looks to be one that is built to last throughout the long season.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS LOOK

UT Tyler entered this week's action ranked within the top five nationally of five different offensive categories. The Patriots rank fourth in all of Division II softball with 23 doubles in their nine wins, and fifth in the country with 88 total runs scored.
 
The Patriots have been hit by 15 pitches so far in 2022, third most in Division II softball, and have the sixth best team batting average (.430) for the year. UT Tyler stands as one of 14 remaining undefeated teams in the country as well.
 
HEAD COACH MIKE REED
 
Coach Reed began his 18^th season as head coach of the Patriots, and 21^st season as a head softball coach at the collegiate level in 2022.
 
Reed ranks fourth among all NCAA divisions in career winning percentage (.825), posting a 761-159 career mark through 21 career seasons. He owns the second-highest all-time win percentage among Division III coaches, coaching 18 of his 20 seasons at the Division III level, and is a nine-time American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year, and seven-time NFCA Regional Coach of the Year.
 
He has helped develop 29 All-Americans, 83 all-region and 142 all-conference selections and led the UT Tyler program to the NCAA national tournament in seven of 11 years since the Patriots became postseason eligible in Division III.
 
Reed and his staff have been named the Regional Coaching Staff of the Year by the NFCA on seven different occasions (2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).
 
Reed is 32-6 over the last two seasons in Lone Star Conference games, and guided the Patriots to a 50-10 record in their two transition seasons against Division II competition in 2020 and 2021.
 
Prior to those two seasons, Reed and company flexed their muscles in the final few seasons of the Division III era, claiming three straight American Southwest Regular Season Championships, three straight NCAA Division III Regional Championships and a National Championship and National Championship Runner-Up finish; all of which came over the course of the 2015-2018 seasons.
 
LSC FAVORITES
 
The University of Texas at Tyler softball program was tabbed as preseason favorites in the 2022 Lone Star Conference Softball Preseason Poll, while Foster was selected as the league's Preseason Pitcher of the Year. The Patriots came in at no. 1 in the poll as voted upon by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media representatives and earned 654 total votes after garnering 22 of the 43 available first-place votes.
 
West Texas A&M came in right behind UT Tyler in the no. 2 slot with 629 total votes, and earned 16 first-place votes after claiming last year's national crown with a record of 43-12 on the year. Angelo State came in at no. 3 in this season's preseason poll with 571 votes, followed by Oklahoma Christian (no. 4) and Texas A&M-Commerce (no. 5) to round out the top five.
 
THE 2022 SCHEDULE
 
The 2022 schedule for the Patriots will feature 51 total games comprising of 21 games of non-conference competition and 30 games against Lone Star Conference foes.
 
The LSC schedule will see each conference foe compete in a single doubleheader against each conference opponent. The regular season LSC champion will be decided at the end of the slate of games and will go to the team with the highest winning percentage in conference play at season's end.
 
10 teams will qualify for the 2022 LSC Softball Championships based on their finish in the league standings. Those 10 teams will meet at the no. 1 seed, and LSC regular season champion's host site, on May 5-7^th.
 
The Lone Star Conference schedule will get started with what will undoubtedly be a highlighted doubleheader across the Division II landscape on Mar. 4^th in Canyon, Texas. UT Tyler will visit defending NCAA Division II National Champions West Texas A&M after sweeping the Lady Buffs last season by 8-1 and 10-3 final scores in Tyler.