COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team returns to action Friday as they travel to Clearwater, Fla. for a 16-team invite-only tournament. The Lions will play two games on both Friday and Saturday and wrap up the weekend with a game on Sunday morning as part of the NFCA Lead-Off Classic.
 
Live Stats Links
Fri, Feb. 10, 12 p.m. EST vs. Hillsdale: http://statb.us/b/164773
Fri, Feb. 10, 5 p.m. EST vs. Catawba: http://statb.us/b/164774
Sat, Feb. 11, 10 a.m. EST vs. No. 13 Valdosta State: http://statb.us/b/164775
Sat, Feb. 11, 3 p.m. EST vs. No. 17 Saint Leo: http://statb.us/b/164776
Sun, Feb. 12, 11:30 a.m. EST vs. Florida Tech: http://statb.us/b/164777
 
The Lions are coming off of an opening season tournament where they finished 4-1, with their lone loss coming in a 15-14 slugfest with No. 5 Southern Arkansas. Head coach Richie Bruister was pleased with the way his team played overall and excited to see his team hold its own against a team that played in the NCAA tournament last season.
 
"It was a good weekend," Bruister said. "It could have been great if we had won the last game against Southern Arkansas. It was a great heavyweight boxing match. We got knocked down then we knocked them down. Everybody just kept getting back up. It was just one of those games where whoever had the last at-bats was probably going to win."
 
The Lions were able to put plenty of runs on the scoreboard, scoring 42 runs in five games. The Lions also had 24 stolen bases and hit .329 with 10 extra base hits. Overall, Bruister liked what his hitters and base runners were able to do.
 
"We pride ourselves in that because you have to outscore your opponents to win," he said. "That's the only way to win a ball game."
 
A major part of the offense came from Mariah Jameyson, who hit .471 with eight hits and 12 RBIs. She also had two home runs. For her efforts, Jameyson was named Lone Star Conference Hitter of the Week on Tuesday.
 
"It's exciting for Mariah to get named Hitter of the Week for the Lone Star Conference, one of the best hitting conferences in the country," Bruister said. "To be able to do that you've got to have an outstanding weekend and she certainly did. She started off nervous with a couple strikeouts early in the first game but then she got tired of that and the next pitch she saw, she jacked out. She had a wonderful weekend."
 
Another big contributor was Kinsie Hebler. She also had two home runs and had eight RBIs. She also pitched a complete game in the first game of the Lions' doubleheader on Sunday, an 8-3 win over Washburn. She was later called in to close out the game against Southern Arkansas and came up just short of a save.
 
"Kinsie at the leadoff spot had a wonderful weekend," Bruister said. "She had a possibility of being Hitter of the Week as well. And she did a wonderful job pitching. She pitched a complete game in the first game on Sunday. Then she came back in and had the opportunity to win it against Southern Arkansas and things just didn't work out. She did everything she could do in the weather conditions and played her heart out. She gave us an opportunity to win the ball game but it just wasn't in the cards."
 
Bruister was just as pleased with his team's defense. The Lions had a fielding percentage of .987 and had just two errors. Bruister liked how his team was able to capitalize on opponent miscues without giving up many of their own.
 
"I was very proud of our defense," he said. "One thing we wanted to get better at based on last year, we only had two errors this weekend and our opponents had 15. That's just our speed putting pressure on a defense. We are running bases and paying attention to what's going on and then capitalizing on the mistakes they make."
 
The Lions will now travel to the East Coast for five games in three days, all against different opponents. Two of the teams were ranked in the top 25 in the country in the preseason poll. Bruister is excited to play against the some of the country's best schools and see how his squad comes out.'
 
 "You are going to see five heavyweight matchups," he said. "There is not a bad team in the bunch. We are going to have to play our best game. It's going to be some exciting softball. The best teams from all over the country are going to be there. We look forward to that challenge. "
 
Bruister knows his team will be able to compete with the best teams. His team proved that last week against No. 5 Southern Arkansas and he knows his team will learn from the mistakes they made and become better. He sees this tournament as another opportunity to grow and develop as a team.
 
"We have a great team as well," Bruister said. "We proved that this weekend going up to Southern Arkansas. We are going to learn from that. We are excited what we did. We put up 14 runs up on a team that is very good with very good pitching and we played very good defense. If we continue to do that, you are going to win a lot more than you lose throughout the year."