COMMERCE – A tough test lies ahead for the Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team, who takes part in the Baylor Invitational in Waco this weekend. The Lions are the lone non-Power Five conference team in the four-team tournament.
 
LIONS' WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Date	Time	Opponent	Coverage
Friday, February 24	11 a.m.	No. 21/21 Maryland	Live Stats
Friday, February 24	4 p.m.	Minnesota	Live Stats
Saturday, February 25	12:30 p.m.	No.23/25 Baylor	Live Stats
Saturday, February 25	3 p.m.	1st seed vs. 4th seed	Live Stats
Saturday, February 25	5:30 p.m.	2nd seed vs. 4th seed	Live Stats
Sunday, February 26	9 a.m.	Consolation Game	Live Stats
Sunday, February 26	11 a.m.	Championship Game	Live Stats

 
All four teams play in a round-robin format to start the weekend. After the round-robin, the teams will be seeded for a bracketed playoff. Should the Lions be paired against Baylor on Sunday for the consolation game or the championship game, that game will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
The Lions are playing all three teams for the first time in the regular season, having played the Bears in fall exhibition games in previous seasons.
 
LIONS DOWN AKRON FOR FIRST DIVISION I WIN
A&M-Commerce beat Akron last Friday to open the Whataburger Invitational by a score of 7-4 for the first win as a Division I program. It was also coach Brittany Miller's first win as a head coach.
 
LIONS WALK-OFF BLUE JAYS
On Sunday at the Whataburger Invitational, A&M-Commerce collected a 5-4 win in eight innings over Creighton. Shelby Hodge (Katy – Cinco Ranch) hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring in the game-winning run. It was the first true walk-off win in a game that lasted seven or more innings since Ayanna Williams (Round Rock – Cedar Ridge) had the game-winning hit against No. 2 Augustana in the season-opener last season.
 
TOUGH COMPETITION TO START
The Lions begin the season with numerous games on their schedule against ranked opponents and teams that competed in the NCAA Tournament last season.
 
This week the Lions take on No. 21/21 Maryland and No. 23/25 Baylor and still have games remaining against Arkansas, Arizona, and North Texas, who are all currently nationally ranked. In the first week of the season, the Lions also played Texas A&M twice, who is now nationally ranked.
 
PLENTY OF NEW LIONS
A&M-Commerce retains just four players from last season, welcoming 16 new faces to the squad in 2023. The 16 new players are believed to be the most on any roster in Division I this season.
 
ENDED ON A HIGH NOTE
The Lions ended the Division II era by winning the Lone Star Conference Tournament, the program's first conference title, and served as hosts during the NCAA Regional round. It was the third straight postseason that the Lions served as hosts, and it was their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR THE LIONS
After this weekend's tournament in Waco, the Lions head to Tucson, Arizona, for the Hillenbrand Invitational next Friday-Sunday. A&M-Commerce faces Nebraska, Arizona, CSUN, and Weber State in the five-game tournament.


SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Maryland is off to an 8-1 start and has won six in a row. The Terps already have wins over No. 22 Oregon and No. 3 Oklahoma State, climbing up to No. 21 in all major rankings. The Terps are batting .309 as a team with five home runs and 11 doubles as team. Mackense Greico has driven in 13 RBIs on a batting average of .462. Amelia Lech has hit three of the team's home runs.
 
In the circle, the Maryland pitching staff has an ERA of 2.68. Keira Bucher has six saves on the season with an ERA of 1.14 and four strikeouts in 12.1 innings of work. Trinity Schlotterbeck is 4-0 with 16 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.43.
 
Minnesota is 5-4 on the season, having lost three of four games last weekend at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Its lone win on the weekend was a 2-1 win in eight innings over Virginia. Minnesota was a NCAA Tournament participant last season. The Golden Gophers have hit 13 doubles, which is top 60 in the country and batting .286 as a team.
 
Jess Oakland is batting .393 with two home runs and team-best 14 RBIs. Taylor Krapf has 10 RBIs and two home runs. Autumn ease is 3-2 on the season with an ERA of 1.22 and struck out 35, which is 32^nd in the country. As a staff, Minnesota has 55 strikeouts in nine games.
 
Baylor is coming off a non-conference win over No. 1 Oklahoma last weekend, which helped the Bears crack the top 25. Baylor is 8-1 on the season, its lone loss came to No. 7 Arkansas. Baylor is ninth in the country with a batting average of .371 and 19^th with 2.33 steals per game, aided by being 17^th in the country with an on-base percentage of .446.
 
Amber Toven, Shaylon Govan, and Aliyah Binford are all batting .500 on the season. Govan has 19 RBIs, which is second in the country and she leads the country with an average of 2.11 RBIs per game. Rylee Crandall is 2-0 in five appearances with 23 strikeouts on an ERA of 0.49, while Dariana Orme is pitching to an ERA of 0.82 in four starts and is 3-1 on the season. After missing the NCAA Tournament last season, the Bears won the National Invitational Softball Championship.