Game Info	Opponent Info
No. 8 Angelo State or No. 9 St. Edward's vs. No. 1 / #3 UT Tyler TBD | UTT: 51-4, 39-2 LSC Thursday, May 4th | 6:30 P.M. Tyler, Texas | Irwin Ballpark	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

THE LSC CHAMPIONSHIP AT IRWIN BALLPARK ONCE AGAIN

#3 UT Tyler clinched the right to host the Lone Star Conference Softball Championships for a second-straight season last weekend with an 11th straight Lone Star Conference series sweep over Texas A&M International. The Patriots extended their Division II best 28 game winning streak, and finished the year with a record of 39-2 in league play. That record was good enough for a third straight Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship and ensured that the LSC Softball Championships will return to Irwin Ballpark for a second consecutive season. The 10-team single elimination tournament will get started at 11 a.m. on Thursday morning. The full bracket can be found below.

2023 Lone Star Conference Softball Championship
Irwin Ballpark in Tyler, Texas
 
Thursday, May 4
Game 1: [10] Eastern New Mexico vs. [7] St. Mary's, 11 a.m.
Game 2: [9] St. Edward's vs. [8] Angelo State, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: 7-10 winner vs. [2] West Texas A&M, 4 p.m.
Game 4: 8-9 winner vs. [1] UT Tyler, 6:30 p.m.
 
Friday, May 5
Game 5: [3] Oklahoma Christian vs. [6] Texas A&M-Kingsville, 11 a.m.
Game 6: [4] Lubbock Christian vs. [5] Cameron, 1:30 p.m.
Game 7: Semifinals: 3-6 winner vs. 2/7-10 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 8: Semifinals: 4-5 winner vs. 1/8-9 winner, 6:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 6
Championship game: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 2 p.m.

BUY TICKETS

Championship Tickets: Admission prices for an all-day pass are:
Adults (age 18-64): $10
LSC Students (with valid campus ID): Free
Seniors (age 65+): $10
Students (age 6-17): $10
Children (age 0-5): Free

Credit card and cash accepted at the gate; Online tickets can be purchased here.

WATCH LIVE

UT Tyler will stream all the games on the LSC Digital Network at LoneStarConferenceNetwork.com or on the LSC Digital Network OTT app. Fans will be able to purchase an LSC Softball Championship Day Pass for $10 that will provide access to all softball tournament games that day.

POSTSEASON PLAY
 
UT Tyler softball is now 99-44 in postseason play all-time and are 64-28 in NCAA National Tournament play dating back to their inaugural appearance in the 2008 season.
 
The Patriots made their inaugural appearance in the LSC Softball Championships last spring, going 1-1 with a 10-0 run-rule victory over West Texas A&M in the quarterfinals and a 5-4 loss in the semifinals against Texas A&M-Commerce.

A PROGRAM RECORD 51 WINS

The 2023 softball team has already secured the most wins in a single season in program history with 51 on the year entering postseason play. The Patriots have now won 50-plus games in two season after going 50-5 back in 2015, and have not registered double-digit losses in a season in 12 straights seasons. The program is 745-141 (.841) in 19 seasons of competition dating back to the 2005 season.

A PAIR OF INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM RECORDS

Two individual program records fell as well last weekend as Tatum Goff set the single season strikeout record and JT Smith the record for stolen bases in a season. Goff has now struckout 199 batters and counting this season, while Smith's 41 stolen bases are a single season program high as well.

PATRIOTS BY THE NUMBERS

UT Tyler currently sports the second best team fielding percentage (.979) and has drawn the third most walks as a team (217) in all of Division II softball. The Patriots rank seventh in team on-base percentage (.434), and have scored the ninth highest amount of total runs in the country (369). The pitching staff sports the seventh best ERA in the country (1.48), and has produced the seventh most shutouts with 18.

JT Smith ranks second in the nation in on-base percentage (.599) and fifth in runs per game (1.35). Tatum Goff's 33 wins leads all of Division II softball, and her 199 strikeouts in 2023 ranks 12th in Division II.

A THIRD PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD FOR GOFF

UT Tyler junior Tatum Goff has earned a third Lone Star Conference Player of the Week accolade after being named the LSC Co-Pitcher of the Week for the final week of the regular season. Goff went 3-0 last week to help UT Tyler close out the regular season on a 28-game winning streak and clinched their third straight Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship. The Rusk, Texas native tossed her second no-hitter of the year on Friday against Texas A&M International, one of two complete games for the week. Goff struckout 19 batters and only allowed two runs over 17.0 innings of work and improved to a perfect 33-0 on the year. Goff is now a three-time LSC Pitcher of the Week honoree. UT Tyler won five LSC Hitter of the Week distinctions as well.

THE FIRST RANKED REGIONAL RANKINGS

The University of Texas at Tyler softball program opened up at no. 1 in the first ranked edition of the 2023 NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings as announced by the regional advisory committee on last week. Wednesday's rankings are the second of three regional rankings that will be released prior to the selection of the 2023 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament field on Monday, May 7^th. The winners of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and Lone Star Conference (LSC) Postseason Tournaments will receive the two automatic qualifying bids into the tournament, while the final six teams of the eight-team field will receive at-large bids based on the top six remaining highest teams in the South Central Regional Rankings. The eight-team bracket will be split into two brackets, one at each of the top two ranked teams in the rankings host site on May 11-13, with the winners of each side of the bracket advancing to the NCAA Division II Super Regionals on May 18-19. The winner of that Super Regional Tournament will advance to the NCAA Division II World Series scheduled for May 25-31 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
 

NCAA South Central Regional Rankings
Rank	Team	DII Record	In-Region Record
1	UT Tyler	46-4	40-3
2	West Tex. A&M	43-5	43-5
3	Colo. Christian	48-4	48-4
4	Okla. Christian	31-14	30-14
5	Lubbock Christian	36-14	33-13
6	St. Mary's (TX)	29-19	27-19
7	St. Edward's	25-23	23-23
8	Cameron	29-18	29-18
9	Angelo St.	29-24	28-23
10	MSU Denver	28-19	28-19

PATRIOTS ENTER POSTSEASON AT NO. 3

 The University of Texas at Tyler softball team will enter postseason play at no. 3 in the latest NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon. The Patriots received 373 total votes to come in at no. 3 for a sixth straight week and sit behind an unchanged no. 1 Tampa and no. 2 North Georgia. Tampa received 15 first-place votes and North Georgia one first-place vote, while Central Oklahoma and UAH switched spot in the no. 4 and no. 5 spots to round out the top five with UT Tyler. 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 (15)	399	37-3	1
2	North Georgia (1)	379	52-6	2
3	UT Tyler	373	51-4	3
4	Central Oklahoma	347	43-6	5
5	UAH	330	40-9	4
6	Indianapolis	324	47-6	6
7	Grand Valley State	304	38-4	7
8	Colorado Christian	291	52-4	9
9	Rogers State	270	41-10	8
10	West Texas A&M	246	46-5	12
11	Saint Leo	245	40-9	11
12	Concordia	211	42-10	13
13	Adelphi	207	41-6	14
14	Mississippi College	185	40-8	15
15	Sonoma State	176	34-11	10
16	Harding	153	43-11	17
17	Wingate	148	43-12	16
18	Oklahoma Baptist	118	43-9	19
19	Columbus State	105	44-12	21
20	West Alabama	91	38-11	20
21	Charleston	72	34-8	23
22	Oklahoma Christian	70	34-14	25
23	Lenoir-Rhyne	53	36-11	18
24	Lubbock Christian	35	39-14	24
25	Missouri Southern	16	36-11	RV

New to Poll: No. 25 Missouri Southern

Dropped Out: No. 22 Valdosta State

Receiving Votes: Wilmington (15), Valdosta State (14), Nova Southeastern (10), Southern Arkansas (5), West Chester (5), Auburn Montgomery (2), East Stroudsburg (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 150-23 (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 97-12 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 850-172 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 745-141 (.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).