TYLER, TEXAS - #3 UT Tyler closed out the 2023 regular season with a program record 51st win in a 7-1 victory over Texas A&M International.

The Patriot's 28th win in a row to close out the regular season broke the UT Tyler softball program record for wins in a season with win no. 51 on the year. The 2023 team honored it's five seniors prior to first pitch, and then notched Lone Star Conference series sweep no. 11 in a row with a victory over the Dustdevils.

UT Tyler will host the 2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Championship Tournament on May 4-6 at Irwin Ballpark as the no. 1 overall seed in the 10-team single elimination bracket. Saturday's win closed the door on a third straight Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship for the program with a league record of 39-2 on the year.

Junior Courtney Plocheck put the first runs on the board on Senior Day for the Patriots with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. Plocheck would go on to provide a 3-for-4 effort with three RBI and a run scored in the contest.

Texas A&M International answered the pair of runs in the first trip to the plate for the Patriots with their second run of the series in the top of the second. That frame was the lone blemish for starter Tatum Goff, who moved to 33-0 on the year and broke the UT Tyler softball single season strikeouts record with six in her 5.0 innings of work. 

Goff completed the regular season with a perfect 33-0 record and struckout a program-best 199 batters in 197.0 innings of work.

Plocheck got the Patriot offense moving again in the third with with an RBI groundout to make it 3-1. Junior Audrey Escamilla scored third baseman Michelle Arias from second on an RBI single to add the second run in the frame and extend the advantage to 4-1. 

Sophomore Cassidi Mullen added the fifth run on the board in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single with two outs on the board. Senior Avery Farr, who was one of five seniors honored prior to first pitch, capped off the scoring in the sixth with a two-RBI double to left center to make it 7-1.

Graduate student Shea O'Leary came on in relief of Goff in the sixth inning and retired all six batters that she faced. 

Mullen and Escamilla joined Plocheck with multi-hit efforts on a day in which the UT Tyler offense scored seven runs off 10 hits. Goff and O'Leary allowed just three hits in the contest. 

Game times and information for the 2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Championship will be available shortly on uttylerpatriots.com.