TYLER, TEXAS - #1 UT Tyler will begin their final road trip of the 2022 season this weekend with Lone Star Conference doubleheaders against St. Mary's and St. Edward's.
 
The Patriots went 3-1 last weekend with a Friday evening split against no. 12 Texas A&M-Kingsville and a sweep of Texas A&M-International on Sunday afternoon. UT Tyler is 30-4 on the year and part of a four-way tie atop the standings in the Lone Star Conference with a record of 16-4 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Friday's doubleheader in San Antonio is slated for a 4 p.m. start against St. Mary's and Sunday's doubleheader a 1 p.m. start against St. Edward's.
 
RECLAIMING THE THRONE
 
UT Tyler completed a stretch of three straight doubleheaders against opponents ranked within the top 15 of the 2022 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll last Friday with the series split against Texas A&M-Kingsville, solidifying a 3-3 record over that time span. The three wins over top-15 foes helped the Patriots reclaim their spot atop the national polls after a one-week absence.
 
UT Tyler returned to the no. 1 spot in the 2022 NFCA Division II Coaches Poll this week with 14 of a possible 16 first-place votes. The 14 first-place votes gave the Patriots 398 points in this week's edition of the poll, bumping UT Tyler back ahead of Concordia Irvine into the no. 1 slot for the eighth time this season.
 
UT Tyler has now appeared as the no. 1 ranked team in the country in eight out of the nine regular season polls.
 
LOOKING AT THE NOW
 
As the calendar is now turned to the month of April, it is easy to get caught looking ahead at potential implications of the final 14 regular season games for the Patriots. UT Tyler has put together a body of work that puts the club in firm position to not only claim back-to-back Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championships, but also be considered for what would be their first appearance in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament at season's end.
 
There is still an immense amount of work left to do if the Patriots are to accomplish both of those tasks, beginning this weekend with a trip to a St. Mary's team that is 31-8 on the year and 15-5 in LSC play. The Rattlers are in the receiving votes category of the latest national polls and are currently 10-1 on their home field.
 
The Rattlers are one of three teams associated with the NFCA Top 25 Poll that still remain on the Patriot's schedule in the month of April, including highlighted home doubleheaders on April 22^nd against #19 Oklahoma Christian and on April 30^th against #13 Texas A&M-Commerce. Those two games will come during a stretch in which UT Tyler will stay at home for eight straight games to close out the regular season after the trips to St. Mary's and St. Edward's this weekend, as well as a midweek road contest at Henderson State on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Seven teams including UT Tyler sit within two games of the top spot in the LSC standings currently occupied by the Patriots, Lubbock Christian, Oklahoma Christian and Texas A&M-Commerce, making for a race to the finish during the last few weeks of the regular season. Eight teams, comprised of the winners of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournaments as well as six at-large bids, will be selected to the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament on May 12-14.
 
STATS CHECK
 
The Patriots have remained as the top scoring team in all of Division II softball through 34 games in 2022 with an average of 8.74 runs per game. UT Tyler sits fourth in the country with a batting average of .376 for the year, and have produced the second best on-base percentage (.463) and fourth best slugging percentage (.595) in the country.
 
UT Tyler ranks atop the Lone Star Conference with that .376 batting average, and sits fourth in the LSC with a team ERA of 2.33 for the year.
 
Senior Ashley Perez ranks eighth in the conference with a .430 batting average for the year and third in the LSC with 13 doubles. Pitchers Sarah Gartman and Kaylee Davis rank first and second in the LSC in runs allowed with just 8 and 13 respectively, while Gartman paces the league with a 1.26 ERA.
 
TOP 50 WATCH LIST
 
UT Tyler seniors Ashley Perez and Bayli Simon were selected as two of the fifty student-athletes from across the country that were revealed as part of the 2022 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year Awards list.
 
The Player of the Year award was created in 2015 to honor the outstanding athletic achievements among softball student-athletes throughout NCAA Division II. In 2019, the Association expanded the award to include a Player and Pitcher of the Year. The list is compiled and the award is voted on by the elected members of the NFCA Division II All-American Committee with one head coach representing each of the eight NCAA regions. To be eligible, a student-athletes' head coach must be a member.
 
The Top 25 finalists for the 2022 Schutt Sports / NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year awards will be announced on May 5. A student-athlete does not have to be on the Top 50 list to be considered for the Top 25. The winner of each award will be announced on June 2, following the conclusion of the 2022 season.
 
PEREZ STILL ON THE RECORD WATCH
 
Ashley Perez has already eclipsed the UT Tyler softball career records in both doubles with 70 and counting and RBI with 206 and counting, and will now set her sights on a few additional career achievements in the coming weeks. Perez is just one homerun shy of matching Whitney Wyly's career home runs mark (40), and sits atop the records list with a career slugging percentage of .776.
 
Perez jumped into the no. 2 spot on the career hits list as well with the 236^th of her career last weekend, and sits 23 hits shy of Joey Cronin's record of 259.
 
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 (.827), posting a 780-163 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 43-7 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.