| Game Info |
Opponent Info |
(RV) Oklahoma Christian vs. #4 UT Tyler
OC: 22-8, 17-7 LSC | UTT: 31-4, 19-2 LSC
Saturday, March 25th | 2 P.M. | 4 P.M.
Tyler, Texas | Irwin Ballpark |
|
ROSTER |
SCHEDULE |
STATS |
(RV) Oklahoma Christian vs. #4 UT Tyler
OC: 22-8, 17-7 LSC | UTT: 31-4, 19-2 LSC
Sunday, March 26th | 1 P.M.
Tyler, Texas | Irwin Ballpark |
|
ROSTER |
SCHEDULE |
STATS |
MAKE IT FOUR SWEEPS IN A ROW
#4 UT Tyler capped off a fourth straight 3-0 Lone Star Conference sweep on Tuesday and Wednesday with road wins over Texas Woman's. #4 UT Tyler paired a consistent offense with continued effective pitching to score 4-3 and 11-2 victories over Texas Woman's on Tuesday. The Patriots totaled 22 hits between the two games, eight of which went for extra-bases, to compliment quality starts from both
Tatum Goff and
Shea O'Leary. The two starters for UT Tyler both went for complete game efforts, striking out a combined 13 batters along the way. Texas Woman's jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead in game one after a three-run homer in the bottom half of the inning, but couldn't find any additional offense against Goff throughout the remainder of the contest. UT Tyler chipped away at the lead with RBI off the bat of four different Patriots, and ultimately took the lead on an RBI single from senior
Audrey Escamilla in the top of the fifth. Game two was all Patriots as sophomore
JT Smith hit a pair of homers and junior
Courtney Plocheck a three-run blast of her own to extend a 6-2 advantage after two innings of play. O'Leary followed suit with Goff and rebounded after two early runs in the bottom of the first to retire the final 13 Pioneer batters she faced in order. UT Tyler recorded 12 hits and
Tatum Goff moved to a perfect 20-0 on the year in the circle in a run-rule 9-1 victory over Texas Woman's in the series finally.
Plocheck and
Michelle Arias both went 3-for-4 on an afternoon in which the Patriot offense picked up right where they left off in yesterday's doubleheader victories to sweep the Pioneers on their home field. Arias was a double away from the cycle in the ballgame, recording a single, a triple and a homer while notching four RBI in the process. Goff went the complete six innings and allowed just a pair of Pioneer hits while striking out nine to stay a perfect 20-0 on the year.
A MEETING AMONGST TWO OF THE BEST IN THE LSC
UT Tyler will ride their eight-game winning streak into homecoming weekend at Irwin Ballpark, and will host an Oklahoma Christian club that sits in a tie for third in the LSC standings with a 17-7 mark in league play. The Patriots have already collected 3-0 sweeps over the other two of the four teams that have separated themselves from the pack at the top of the standings in West Texas A&M and Lubbock Christian, and can make a major leap towards a third straight regular season LSC title with a series win this weekend. Oklahoma Christian enters the weekend 22-8 on the year and dominated UT Permian Basin last weekend in three straight victories. The Lady Eagles rank third in the LSC in batting average (.302) and eighth in the conference in ERA (2.89). UT Tyler won both meetings between the two programs last season at Irwin Ballpark, while Oklahoma Christian swept UT Tyler back in 2021 with a pair of victories on their home field.
TAKING CARE OF THE FUNDAMENTALS
UT Tyler has developed into a team that relies on three stellar pitching options and a club that maximizes their opponents mistakes at the plate in 2023. UT Tyler ranks second in all of Division II softball with 145 walks in 2023, and has turned those free bases into an offense that ranks 13th in the country in total runs (217) despite sitting 91st in team batting average (.297).
Tatum Goff has been as advertised all season in the circle, leading Division II softball with 20 wins on the year, but the addition of
Shea O'Leary and the development of
Kaylee Davis has turned the UT Tyler pitching staff into one of the deepest in all of Division II softball. That staff has had one of the best defenses in the country all year behind them, as the Patriots rank third in the nation with a fielding percentage of .980. The eye-popping offensive numbers that have been produced by the UT Tyler lineup in previously years aren't there this season, but no team in the country has maximized their opportunities at a better rate than the Patriots in 2023.
A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS
As previously mentioned, UT Tyler, West Texas A&M, Lubbock Christian and Oklahoma Christian have seemingly separated themselves from the pack in the LSC standings as head to the last weekend in March. UT Tyler remains two games ahead of all three of those foes, however Lubbock Christian and Oklahoma Christian have played an additional series and sit 17-7 on the year.
AT FOUR FOR THE FOURTH WEEK IN A ROW
For a fourth consecutive week the University of Texas at Tyler softball program checked in at no. 4 in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon. The Patriots received 352 votes to sit fourth in the poll behind an unchanged top three of North Georgia (no. 1), Rogers State (no. 2) and Tampa (no. 3). North Georgia secured the unanimous no. 1 ranking on the heels of a 29-game winning streak to move to 30-1 on the year. The 2023 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. UT Tyler entered the 2023 NFCA Division II Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll in the no. 3 spot and have maintained their positioning within the national top-five in all six regular season polls. The Patriots held the no. 1 spot in 13 out of the 14 regular season NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches polls in 2022, and unanimously sat atop the poll in eight of those weeks.
|
Rank
|
School
|
Points
|
2023 Record
|
Previous
Ranking
|
|
1
|
North Georgia (16)
|
400
|
30-1
|
1
|
|
2
|
Rogers State
|
378
|
21-2
|
2
|
|
3
|
Tampa
|
374
|
21-1
|
3
|
|
4
|
UT Tyler
|
352
|
28-4
|
4
|
|
5
|
Central Oklahoma
|
330
|
20-3
|
6
|
|
6
|
Grand Valley State
|
312
|
15-2
|
7
|
|
7
|
UAH
|
303
|
21-4
|
8
|
|
8
|
Concordia
|
277
|
26-6
|
12
|
|
9
|
Indianapolis
|
270
|
23-3
|
9
|
|
10
|
Valdosta State
|
257
|
24-4
|
10
|
|
11
|
Lubbock Christian
|
242
|
24-8
|
11
|
|
12
|
Colorado Christian
|
206
|
30-2
|
14
|
|
13
|
Harding
|
181
|
23-6
|
13
|
|
13
|
Sonoma State
|
181
|
18-4
|
21
|
|
15
|
Cal State San Marcos
|
178
|
16-7
|
5
|
|
16
|
Adelphi
|
164
|
10-3
|
15
|
|
17
|
Southern Arkansas
|
153
|
22-8
|
16
|
|
18
|
Saint Leo
|
127
|
27-4
|
20
|
|
19
|
Wingate
|
108
|
27-8
|
18
|
|
20
|
West Texas A&M
|
96
|
23-4
|
22
|
|
21
|
Washburn
|
88
|
23-5
|
19
|
|
22
|
Cal State Dominguez Hills
|
57
|
15-8
|
17
|
|
23
|
Mississippi College
|
53
|
22-4
|
25
|
|
24
|
Lenoir-Rhyne
|
48
|
23-5
|
23
|
|
25
|
Carson-Newman
|
21
|
24-6
|
24
|
New to Poll: None
Dropped Out: None
Receiving Votes: Oklahoma Christian (18), Nova Southeastern (10), Wilmington (7), Saginaw Valley State (4), Oklahoma Baptist (2), West Alabama (2), Shepherd (1).
DOMINANCE IN DIVISION II
UT Tyler has produced a record of 130-23 (85.1 percent) since beginning Division II play in 2020 and have now claimed back-to-back Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championships in 2021 and 2022. The Patriots are 77-12 in Lone Star Conference play since beginning play in the league in 2020.
HEAD COACH MIKE REED
Coach Reed will enter his 19th season as head coach of the Patriots, and 22nd season as a head softball coach at the collegiate level in 2022.
Reed ranks fifth among all NCAA divisions in career winning percentage (.837), posting an 830-172 career mark through 22 career seasons. He owns the third-highest all-time win percentage among Division III coaches, coaching 18 of his 22 seasons at the Division III level, and is a nine-time American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year and eight-time NFCA Regional Coach of the Year. He has helped develop 33 All-Americans, 91 all-region and 149 all-conference selections and has led the UT Tyler program to the NCAA World Series in eight of the 12 years since the Patriots became postseason eligible in Division III.. He is 725-141 (.837) in his 19 seasons as head coach the Patriots and has seen his staff named the Regional Coaching Staff of the Year by the NFCA on eight different occasions (2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022).
