| Game Info |
Opponent Info |
#3 UT Tyler vs. St. Edward's
UTT: 43-4, 31-2 LSC | SEU: 25-20, 19-17 LSC
Friday, April 21st | 2 P.M.
Austin, Texas | Diane Daniels Field |
|
ROSTER |
SCHEDULE |
STATS |
#3 UT Tyler vs. St. Edward's
UTT: 43-4, 31-2 LSC | SEU: 25-20, 19-17 LSC
Saturday, April 22nd | 12 P.M. | 2 P.M.
Austin, Texas | Diane Daniels Field |
|
ROSTER |
SCHEDULE |
STATS |
A SHOWCASE OF SOFTBALL AT HOME
UT Tyler clicked on all cylinders in last weekend's pair of wins against Western New Mexico to secure an eighth straight 3-0 Lone Star Conference series sweep, and extend their Division II-best 20 game winning streak in the process. #3 UT Tyler posted 24 hits and shutout Western New Mexico in 6-0 and 15-0 wins on Saturday afternoon. UT Tyler used a complete game from
Tatum Goff in game one and a 15-run bottom of the third inning in game two for wins no. 18 and 19 in a row on Saturday afternoon. Graduate student
Shea O'Leary and sophomore
Kaylee Davis completed the shutout of the Mustangs in game two by allowing just a pair of hits in the five-inning run-rule. The Patriots scored nine runs in their final two trips to the plate to make it 20-straight wins with a 10-1 run-rule of Western New Mexico on Sunday afternoon. UT Tyler scored an early run in the first and then capped off an eighth straight Lone Star Conference series sweep with nine runs in the third and fourth innings to post a second straight run-rule of Western New Mexico. Junior
Tatum Goff picked up win no. 28 on the year, tops in Division II softball, and supported an offense that collected eight hits on the afternoon. Four different Patriots drove in two runs, including
Michelle Arias, who went 2-for-2 in the game with two RBI and two runs scored.
A DANGEROUS STRETCH
UT Tyler has not lost a game in over a month, owns the longest winning streak in Division II softball and has it's sights set clearly on clinching a third consecutive Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship in the coming weeks. However, the next two series for the Patriots will be stiff tests, beginning with this weekend's road series at St. Edward's. The Hilltoppers sit 25-20 on the year and hold wins over both West Texas A&M and Oklahoma Christian, two top standing teams in the Lone Star Conference. UT Tyler will then return home for a quick turnaround on Tuesday and Wednesday against a Texas A&M-Kingsville team that advanced to face UT Tyler in last year's NCAA South Central Super Regional Tournament. The Javelinas 22-19 overall record is deceiving, as they returned as much talent as anyone across the LSC in 2023, and would love nothing more than to upset the Patriots on the field that UT Tyler ended their season on last spring. The next two series will pit the Patriots against two playoff-quality teams, in what should be high-energy atmospheres as the race for postseason positioning is thoroughly underway.
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
As mentioned, the Hilltoppers hold a 25-20 overall record on the year, and sit in a tie for eighth place in the conference standings race with a record of 19-17. St. Edward's was included in the initial NCAA South Central Regional Rankings on Wednesday afternoon, and has already shown to be more than capable of taking down nationally-ranked competition. Pitching has been the strength of the Hilltoppers in 2023 as the rank fifth in the LSC in team ERA (2.59), and utilize four quality pitching options in what is a deep arsenal of arms. Junior Cadie Belle Currie leads the Hilltoppers with a 1.79 ERA in her 27 starts, and sits 14-6 on the year. Offensively the Hilltopper have four starters that hit north of .300 for a team that ranks 10th in the LSC with a team average of .244. UT Tyler holds a 4-0 all-time advantage in the series.
PATRIOTS BY THE NUMBERS
UT Tyler currently sports the second best team fielding percentage (.980) and has drawn the third most walks as a team (192) in all of Division II softball. The Patriots rank 8th in team on-base percentage (.431), and have scored the 10th highest amount of total runs in the country (313). The pitching staff sports the 12th best ERA in the country (1.62), and has produced the fifth most shutouts with 16.
JT Smith ranks second in the nation in on-base percentage (.621) and fourth in runs per game (1.32).
Tatum Goff's 28 wins leads all of Division II softball, and her 167 strikeouts in 2023 ranks 14th in Division II.
PATS ARE INCREDIBLE AT HOME
UT Tyler holds a 20-0 record inside the friendly confines of Irwin Ballpark in 2023. The Patriots hold nine shutout victories on their home field this season, and have run-rules eight of their opponents in those 20 victories.
ARIAS IS HITTER OF THE WEEK ONCE AGAIN
Junior
Michelle Arias has been named the Lone Star Conference Hitter of the Week for the second time this season on Tuesday afternoon. Arias' second award of the season is the sixth LSC Hitter of the Week accolade for the Patriots in 2023. The San Antonio, Texas native earned the award back on March 28th as well. Arias hit .533 and drove in 11 runs between the six outings to help power a club that outscored their opposition by a 49-to-2 margin for the week. She had at least one RBI in five out of her six games for the week, including multi-RBI efforts in all three wins against Western New Mexico over the weekend. She added seven runs to her 11 RBI, finishing the week 8-for-15 at the plate. Arias sports a .322 batting average in 2023 and ranks second on the team with 27 RBI.
PATS IN THE REGIONAL RANKINGS
#3 UT Tyler has been included in the initial NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings announced by the NCAA on Wednesday afternoon. This week's rankings list teams in alphabetical order that are under consideration for one of eight available spots in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament. The next two editions in the following weeks will provide ranked listings ahead of the announcement of the 64-team NCAA Division II National Championship field on Sunday, May 7
th. The winners of the Lone Star Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference postseason tournaments will receive automatic bids into the South Central Regional Tournament, and the last six spots will be filled by at-large selections. The South Central Regional Tournament will take on May 11-13 at the top two seed's host sites. The winners of each regional bracket will then meet at the higher seed's host site for the NCAA South Central Super Regional Tournament on May 18-19. The winner of that series will advance to the 2023 NCAA Division II Softball World Series in Chattanooga, Tenn. on May 25-29.
|
DII Record |
In-Region Record |
| Angelo St. |
29-21 |
28-20 |
| Cameron |
26-18 |
26-18 |
| Colo. Christian |
45-3 |
45-3 |
| Lubbock Christian |
36-11 |
33-10 |
| Okla. Christian |
28-14 |
27-14 |
| Regis (CO) |
28-18 |
28-18 |
| St. Edward's |
25-20 |
23-20 |
| St. Mary's (TX) |
27-18 |
25-18 |
| UT Tyler |
43-4 |
37-3 |
| West Tex. A&M |
40-5 |
40-5 |
A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS
UT Tyler holds a three-game advantage over West Texas A&M atop the Lone Star Conference standings with a record of 31-2 in LSC play. 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.
PATS STILL AT NO. 3
The University of Texas at Tyler softball program remained at no. 3 in the latest NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon. The Patriots received 369 total votes to come in behind new no. 1 Tampa and no. 2 North Georgia, who swapped positions in this week's poll. UT Tyler was the only top-five team to remain put, as UAH and Central Oklahoma also flipped standings in the no. 4 and no. 5 slots. 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.
|
Rank
|
School
|
Points
|
2023 Record
|
Previous
Ranking
|
|
1
|
Tampa (12)
|
396
|
32-2
|
2
|
|
2
|
North Georgia (4)
|
387
|
44-4
|
1
|
|
3
|
UT Tyler
|
369
|
43-4
|
3
|
|
4
|
UAH
|
343
|
36-7
|
5
|
|
5
|
Central Oklahoma
|
339
|
33-6
|
4
|
|
6
|
Indianapolis
|
325
|
41-4
|
6
|
|
7
|
Grand Valley State
|
302
|
30-3
|
7
|
|
8
|
Rogers State
|
266
|
33-8
|
8
|
|
9
|
Colorado Christian
|
265
|
45-3
|
12
|
|
10
|
Sonoma State
|
262
|
33-8
|
11
|
|
11
|
Saint Leo
|
241
|
36-7
|
13
|
|
12
|
West Texas A&M
|
224
|
40-5
|
14
|
|
13
|
Valdosta State
|
197
|
32-9
|
9
|
|
14
|
Concordia
|
191
|
37-9
|
15
|
|
15
|
Adelphi
|
178
|
31-6
|
17
|
|
16
|
Lubbock Christian
|
170
|
36-11
|
10
|
|
17
|
Wingate
|
147
|
39-10
|
16
|
|
18
|
Mississippi College
|
117
|
33-7
|
19
|
|
19
|
Harding
|
104
|
35-11
|
18
|
|
20
|
Lenoir-Rhyne
|
88
|
31-9
|
21
|
|
21
|
Oklahoma Baptist
|
71
|
37-9
|
22
|
|
22
|
West Alabama
|
58
|
31-10
|
23
|
|
23
|
Charleston
|
56
|
27-6
|
t25
|
|
24
|
Columbus State
|
44
|
36-12
|
24
|
|
25
|
Missouri Southern
|
24
|
31-8
|
RV
|
|
25
|
Wilmington
|
24
|
28-10
|
t25
|
New to Poll: t-No. 25 Missouri Southern
Dropped Out: No. 20 Washburn
Receiving Votes: West Chester (5), Nova Southeastern (3), Washburn (3), Southern Arkansas (1).
THREE ON THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
#3 UT Tyler placed three representatives on the 2023 Tucci/NFCA DII Player and Pitcher of the Year Watch List. Tatum Goff, Courtney Plocheck and JT Smith have all been included in this year's watch list. The Patriots are the only team from the South Central Region to have placed three players on the list. 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-athlete's head coach must be a member. New in 2023, the list is broken down into the eight NCAA Regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West) with up to 15 student-athletes represented in each region. Voted on by the NFCA's Division II All-American Committee, the 2023 Tucci/NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year will be announced on June 1. All student-athletes are eligible for the end-of-the-season award and do not have to be on this list to be considered.
DOMINANCE IN DIVISION II
UT Tyler has produced a record of 142-23 (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 89-12 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 842-172 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 737-141 (.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).
