Game Info	Opponent Info
#3 UT Tyler vs. Eastern New Mexico UTT: 34-4, 22-2 LSC | ENMU: 20-19, 12-15 LSC Saturday, April 1st | 3 P.M. | 5 P.M. Portales, N.M. | Greyhound Softball Field		ROSTER	SCHEDULE	STATS
#3 UT Tyler vs. Eastern New Mexico UTT: 34-4, 22-2 LSC | ENMU: 20-19, 12-15 LSC Sunday, April 2nd | 1 p.m. Portales, N.M. | Greyhound Softball Field		ROSTER	SCHEDULE	STATS

FIVE STRAIGHT SWEEPS

UT Tyler extended their win streak to 11 straight last weekend with a fifth consecutive 3-0 Lone Star Conference series win. UT Tyler took control of both games early and secured doubleheader wins of (RV) Oklahoma Christian with 7-3 and 9-0 victories on Saturday. The Patriots drew eight walks and scored seven runs in the bottom of the third in game one to keep pressure on the Lady Eagles from the start in route to the 7-3 win. Game two's run-rule win started with a four-run bottom of the first inning and ended with five runs in the fourth to go along with a one-hitter from graduate student Shea O'Leary. O'Leary allowed just one hit and one walk to cruise through the Lady Eagle lineup to move to 8-2 on the year. The Castaic, Calif. native has tossed four straight complete game efforts in her last four outings, and has surrendered just eight hits in her 24.0 innings of work over that timeframe. The Patriots scored five runs in the bottom of the 11^th inning to complete an improbable 8-7 comeback win over (RV) Oklahoma Christian on Sunday afternoon. Oklahoma Christian took the lead twice in extra innings in the 10^th and 11^th innings, but UT Tyler answered the call on both occasions, the latter of which on a game-tying grand slam from senior Caitlyn Wells. That blast negated four unearned runs for the Lady Eagles in the top of the 11^th and set the stage for sophomore JT Smith to plate the game-winning run three batters later to secure a fifth straight Lone Star Conference sweep for the Patriots. UT Tyler had nine of their 15 hits of the ballgame in what would be their last two trips to the plate in the 10^th and 11^th innings.

A GREAT STRETCH OF LSC PLAY IN MARCH

UT Tyler finished the month of March unbeaten in Lone Star Conference play thanks to outstanding play in every phase of the game. The Patriots posted a team batting average of .328 and outscored their conference competition by a 123-to-30 margin throughout the month of March. Three Patriots posted batting averaged north of .400 during the month in JT Smith (.474), Courtney Plocheck (.460) and Michelle Arias (.405). Another key to the Patriot's five straight 3-0 LSC series sweeps has been the continued emergence of pitcher Shea O'Leary. O'Leary posted an ERA of just 0.95 in 29.1 innings in March, and has seemingly established herself as the go-to no. 2 starting option for the club behind Tatum Goff. Goff has been as advertised in 2023 with an undefeated 22-0 record on the year, but O'Leary's emergence as a just as effective no. 2 option in the circle has been vital to the Patriot success. Throw in relief option Kaylee Davis, who has come through repeatedly in big spots, and you have one of the best pitching staffs across all of DIvision II softball.

PATRIOTS BY THE NUMBERS

UT Tyler currently sports the best team fielding percentage (.980) and has drawn the most walks as a team (163) in all of Division II softball. The Patriots rank 15th in team on-base percentage (.423), and have scored the 10th highest amount of total runs in the country (10). JT Smith is second in the nation in on-base percentage (.633) and fifth in the country in stolen bases (31). Tatum Goff's 22 wins leads all of Division II softball, and her 130 strikeouts in 2023 ranks ninth in Division II.

SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS

UT Tyler will look to stay hot this weekend despite a long trek to Portales, N.M. where they will face the Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico. Eastern New Mexico enters the weekend 20-19 on the year and sits 11th in the Lone Star Conference standings with a record of 12-15. The Greyhounds won all three of their meetings last weekend as well, knocking off UT Permian Basin on the road. The Greyhounds are fourth in the LSC in team batting average at .286, but are 11th in the conference in team ERA (3.67). Brooke Leger has been the best option in the circle for Eastern New Mexico, and sits 10-5 on the year with a 2.40 ERA. UT Tyler is 4-0 against the Greyhounds all-time, three of which were ended by way of run-rule in five innings.

ANOTHER PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The UT Tyler softball team collected a second-straight Lone Star Conference Player of the Week recognition as junior Michelle Arias is the league's Hitter of the Week. Arias hit. 571 at the plate during UT Tyler's 3-0 sweeps over Texas Woman's and (RV) Oklahoma Christian. Arias joins junior Tatum Goff, who was last week's Pitcher of the Week selection, as well as JT Smith and Audrey Escamilla as LSC weekly award honorees from UT Tyler. The San Antonio, Texas hit two homeruns, two triples and a double while hitting safely and scoring in all six games. She matched the team-high with eight RBI and posted three multi-hit efforts throughout the week. Arias extended her hit streak to seven straight and has elevated her season batting average to .304 for the year.

PATS MOVE UP A SPOT

The University of Texas at Tyler moved up to no. 3 in the latest NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon. The Patriots received 365 total votes and slid up a spot in the poll alongside Tampa (no. 2) and Central Oklahoma (no. 4) after previous no. 2 Rogers State lost four out of their six games last week. North Georgia remained as the unanimous no. 1 choice at 34-1 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. The Lone Star Conference was represented by three teams within the top 25 of this week's rankings in UT Tyler (no. 3), Lubbock Christian (no. 11) and West Texas A&M (no. 16), while Oklahoma Christian remained in the receiving votes category. The Patriots sits 12-4 on the year against teams associated with the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. 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 seven 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	34-1	1
2	Tampa	380	23-2	3
3	UT Tyler	365	34-4	4
4	Central Oklahoma	350	23-4	5
5	UAH	319	25-5	7
6	Indianapolis	316	26-3	9
7	Grand Valley State	295	20-3	6
8	Rogers State	286	23-6	2
9	Concordia	284	26-6	8
10	Valdosta State	259	25-5	10
11	Lubbock Christian	245	30-8	11
12	Colorado Christian	217	34-2	12
13	Sonoma State	206	22-4	t13
14	Saint Leo	166	31-5	18
15	Washburn	156	27-5	21
16	West Texas A&M	152	29-4	20
17	Wingate	150	31-8	19
18	Adelphi	138	15-4	16
19	Cal State San Marcos	124	18-9	15
20	Harding	118	26-8	t13
21	Mississippi College	65	24-5	23
22	Lenoir-Rhyne	64	26-6	24
23	Cal State Dominguez Hills	37	18-9	22
24	Southern Arkansas	27	23-10	17
25	Oklahoma Baptist	20	27-9	RV

New to Poll: No. 25 Oklahoma Baptist

Dropped Out: No. 25 Carson-Newman

Receiving Votes: Nova Southeastern (19), Carson-Newman (15), Wilmington (15), Oklahoma Christian (7), West Alabama (3).

A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS

UT Tyler maintains a two-game lead over West Texas A&M with a record of 22-2 in Lone Star Conference play for first place in the LSC standings. As the calendar turns to April, focus across the LSC will turn to seeding and qualification into the 2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Championship Tournament scheduled for May 4-6. The top seed will host the 10-team single-elimination bracket based on the final LSC standings.

2023 Softball Standings

SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL
UT Tyler	22-2	.917	34-4	.895	W11	17-0	13-3	4-1
West Texas A&M	20-4	.833	29-4	.879	W8	16-1	9-3	4-0
Lubbock Christian	20-7	.741	30-8	.789	W11	22-4	8-4	0-0
Oklahoma Christian	17-10	.630	22-11	.667	L3	9-3	8-7	5-1
Cameron	17-10	.630	21-14	.600	W1	14-3	4-10	3-1
St. Mary's	13-11	.542	23-14	.622	W2	11-9	7-5	5-0
St. Edward's	13-11	.542	19-14	.576	L3	10-6	5-7	4-1
Angelo State	14-13	.519	22-16	.579	L2	13-7	6-6	3-3
Texas A&M-Kingsville	11-13	.458	14-18	.438	L4	6-6	6-8	2-4
Texas A&M International	11-13	.458	15-20	.429	L3	8-4	3-13	4-3
Eastern New Mexico	12-15	.444	20-19	.513	W3	6-6	6-9	8-4
Texas Woman's	11-16	.407	17-19	.472	L2	9-7	6-9	2-3
Midwestern State	4-20	.167	5-26	.161	W2	5-10	0-12	0-4
UT Permian Basin	3-21	.125	6-26	.188	L9	1-11	2-10	3-5
Western New Mexico	1-23	.042	3-29	.094	L19	0-12	2-13	1-4

DOMINANCE IN DIVISION II
 
UT Tyler has produced a record of 133-23 (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 80-12 in Lone Star Conference play since beginning play in the league in 2020.

HEAD COACH MIKE REED
 
Coach Reed will enter his 19^th 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 833-172 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 728-141 (.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).