TYLER, TEXAS - #1 UT Tyler will get the 2022 softball season underway this weekend in Conroe, Texas at the Arkansas Tech Invitational with five games over the course of Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
 
The event will take place at Scrap Yard Sports and will feature 18 high-level Division II softball programs from across the region. Following a host of schedule changes due to inclement weather that affected multiple team's travel arrangements, UT Tyler is now set to face Harding and Southern Nazarene on Saturday, #20 Central Oklahoma on Sunday, and #25 Central Missouri and Arkansas Tech on Monday.
 
Saturday's pair of games are set for 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. starts, while Sunday's meeting with Central Oklahoma will get started at 6 p.m. and Monday's contests with Central Missouri and Arkansas Tech at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
 
AN IMPRESSIVE OPENING SEASON
 
UT Tyler softball navigated their first full season of play in the Lone Star Conference with a 33-7 overall record and a 27-3 mark in LSC play, claiming the program's sixth conference championship along the way after being crowned the 2021 Lone Star Conference Regular Season Champions. The Patriots championship campaign came in the first full season in which they were able to compete in the LSC as the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The Patriots were unable to compete in either the LSC Postseason Tournament or the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament as the institution finished up the three-year transition period to full-fledged Division II membership last summer, but climbed to as high as no. 2 in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll back in week 13 and remained within the top 10 of every regular season poll throughout the 2021 campaign.
 
UT Tyler was 4-1 against foes ranked within the top 10 of the final NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll throughout the season, and defeated eventual Division II National Champion West Texas A&M by 8-1 and 10-3 final tallies back on Mar. 5th.
 
Head coach Mike Reed and his staff were named the 2021 South Central Region Coaching Staff of the Year at season's end despite not having the opportunity to compete in postseason play. Sophomore Payton Foster was named to both the NFCA and D2CCA All-American Teams while Ashley Perez earned the third NFCA All-American honor of her career with a Second Team Division II All-American selection by the organization.
 
Last spring marked the seventh time that coach Reed and his staff have been named the Regional Coaching Staff of the Year by the NFCA, having won the award in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 as Division III members. The three All-American accolades for Foster and Perez are the 27^th, 28^th and 29^th All-American recognition earned by a Patriot softball student-athlete in the program's 17 years of competition.
Foster, Erin Hill, Courtney Plocheck and Perez were all named to the 2021 NFCA Division II All-South Central Region Team at season's end. Foster and Hill were selected as First Team All-South Central Region pitchers while Plocheck was named as a First Team All-South Central Region utility player. Perez was named to the Second Team All-South Central Region list as a catcher.
 
Reed was named the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Patriots to the league championship in the first complete season of competition for the program in the Lone Star Conference. The starting pitching duo of Foster and Erin Hill both received First Team All-Lone Star Conference honors as Foster was named the league's Pitcher of the Year and Hill the Newcomer of the Year.
 
Perez added a First Team All-Lone Star Conference accolade to her long list of accomplishments throughout her storied UT Tyler career, joining Foster and Hill as the three Patriots on the First Team list. Haleigh Swinney, Courtney Plocheck and Hanna Fradkin were named to the Second Team All-Lone Star Conference list, while Swinney was honored with a Golden Glove Award alongside Hill, who both fielded their respective positions at an elite level all season long. Tristin Anders was named to the All-Academic Team as well for her work on the field and in the classroom as a Kinesiology major.
 
THIS SEASON'S RETURNERS
 
The core of the 2021 success is slated to return for coach Reed and the Patriots in the 2022 season, including both 2021 All-Americans in Foster and Perez.
 
Foster was named the 2022 LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year after a record of 15-4 in 2021, allowing just 20 earned runs in 126.2 innings pitched. The Lufkin, Texas native struck out 106 batters in those 126.2 innings thrown, and led the LSC with an ERA of 1.11 for the year.
 
Perez will return to captain the Patriot pitching staff from her catcher role after leading the team in batting average in 2021 with a .407 mark and added a host of postseason accolades to her already impressive resume. She was named as a two-time NFCA Diamond Catcher of the Year recipient in 2018 and 2019, and a First Team NFCA All-American in both her freshman and sophomore seasons. Perez slugged .681 for the year in 2021, ranking second on the team with 30 RBI and an LSC best 17 doubles.
 
2021 All-LSC Second Team selections Fradkin and Plocheck will also both return to the field for the Patriots in 2022 after establishing themselves as two of the best underclassman in the South Central Region last spring.
 
Plocheck also played her best softball at the end of the 2021 season and added a First Team All-South Central Region utility player accolade to her resume, recording five multi-hit games over a stretch of 10 games in the month of April to raise her season average to .370 at season's end. The Deer Park, Texas native displayed the ability to play multiple positions in the infield, and will look to build off a quality end to the 2021 season moving into this season.
 
Fradkin burst onto the scene in her 32 games played in 2021, posting a .412 batting average while scoring 17 runs in just 51 at bats for UT Tyler. Sher recorded a hit in seven of her last 10 starts to close out the season.
 
Seniors Mak Dominguez and Bayli Simon are also slated to return in 2022, and figure to once again provide two of the best infield gloves in the LSC. Dominguez hit .298 last spring while appearing and starting in all 40 games, while Simon hit .280 on the year and drew a team-high 22 walks.
 
PATRIOTS IN THE POLL
 
Last year's eye-opening performance in the first full season of Division II softball combined with the wealth of seasoned talent returning to the field in 2022 has led UT Tyler to a no. 1 ranking in a pair of impressive polls prior to the start of the 2022 season.
 
The Patriots were selected as the no. 1 team in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll as announced by the organization a few weeks ago, receiving eight first-place votes and 386 points. The 2022 preseason poll marks the first time the Patriots reached the no. 1 spot in the poll after rising to no. 2 in both the 2021 and 2020 seasons.
 
The Lone Star Conference led the way with five nationally-ranked programs in the poll, including West Texas A&M, who came in at no. 4. Joining UT Tyler and West Texas A&M were Oklahoma Christian (no. 15), Angelo State (no. 18), and Texas A&M-Commerce (no. 22).
 
The Patriots were one of three teams to receive a first-place vote, joining Augustana (no. 2) and Biola (no. 3). West Texas A&M came in at no. 4 following the three first-place vote receiving teams, followed by North Georgia (no. 5) to round out the top five.
 
The University of Texas at Tyler softball program was also tabbed as preseason favorites in the 2022 Lone Star Conference Softball Preseason Poll, while Payton 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.
 
HEAD COACH MIKE REED
 
Coach Reed will enter 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 750-159 career mark through 20 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.
 
He enters 2022 with a record of 645-128 (.834) in his 17 seasons as head coach the Patriots and has seen his staff 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.
 
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 Patriots will compete in two of the best Division II Tournaments across the national landscape to kick off the 2022 season. The first of those two events will take place this weekend at the Arkansas Tech Invitational in Conroe.
 
The following week will take UT Tyler to the Alvy Early Memorial Classic on Feb. 11-13 in Bentonville, Ark. Another stern test of competition will await the Patriots in that event, as they will see Drury, Quincy, Missouri-St. Louis, Upper Iowa and Emporia State over the course of the weekend.
 
The Patriots will continue on with the non-conference portion of their schedule with seven additional non-conference games leading up to the start of LSC play, beginning on Feb. 16 with a midweek double header on the road against Our Lady of the Lake. The first games at Suddenlink Field inside the UT Tyer Ballpark will take place on Feb. 18-19 with three games against Arkansas-Monticello.
 
The Lone Star Conference schedule will get started the following week in 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.
 
PEREZ ON THE RECORD WATCH
 
Senior Ashley Perez will be in pursuit of a host of UT Tyler softball records this spring, as she begins her fifth season as a Patriot among the top 10 in the majority of offensive categories. She sits atop the record list in career slugging percentage (.791) entering 2022 and is nine doubles shy (56) and seven homeruns shy (33) of matching the all-time records in those respective categories.
 
She also sits third in the Patriot softball record books in career RBI's (167), and is 26 shy of matching current Associate Head Coach Whitney Wyly's record of 193 career RBI's. Perez also sits third with a career batting average of .430.