COMMERCE – After playing four games last week to start the 2025 season, the East Texas A&M University softball team is slated to play six this weekend at the Lion Invitational.
LIONS' WEEKEND SCHEDULE
EAST TEXAS A&M INVITATIONAL
The Lions welcome four teams to Commerce this weekend for the Lion Invitational. Along with East Texas A&M, also participating in the Lion Invitational this week is Abilene Christian, Iowa, Rutgers, and SIUE. The full schedule for the Lion Invitational can be found
HERE.
THE 'ET' ERA BEGINS
Last Friday marked the first games for the Lions since the university's name change to East Texas A&M. Two of the Lions' three primary uniforms this season will feature the words East Texas A&M across their chests.
RODRIGUES CATCHES FIRE
Playing in her first four games as Lion,
Emma Rodrigues (Little Elm - John Paul II) led the way, batting .500 on the weekend. She also hit the only home run for the Lions all weekend and made a diving catch in center field that was featured by NCAA Softball on its social media platforms.
HOUSER TOSSES ONE-HITTER AGAINST COYOTES
After allowing a hit to the leadoff batter,
Kate Houser (Lorena) tossed a one-hit shutout in her first career start as a Lion to give East Texas A&M a 2-0 win over South Dakota, which was its first win of the season. Houser struck out five in the game and picked up 14 strikeouts in four appearances last season.
STAYING HOME TO BEGIN 2025
The Lions play the first 20 games of the season at home, which includes hosting three tournaments. East Texas A&M's first games away from home come on February 28 against Prairie View A&M and UT Arlington in Arlington. The Lions' 20 straight home games to start the season are the second most in NCAA Division I behind Grand Canyon.
LOADED DECK IN 2025
This season, the Lions are slated to play three teams that played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, including four-time defending national champion Oklahoma as well as Southeastern and Grand Canyon. The Lions also have six games against Power Four conference opponents, though four of them are at home. East Texas A&M faces Iowa and Rutgers twice at home next week, challenges Kansas on March 1 and the Sooners on March 19.
MEEP MEEP
The Lions recorded 76 stolen bases last season, which was 44th in NCAA Division I, while also being the tops among all schools that are currently reclassifying to Division I.
A RARE DOUBLE NO-HITTER
A rarity happened in Denton between East Texas A&M and Missouri last seaosn. Both the Lions'
Julia Sanchez (The Kinkaid School) and the Tigers' Cierra Harrison tossed complete games and neither allowed a hit in the game. Missouri took a 1-0 win thanks to a walk, two steals, and a sacrifice fly in the first inning. It was the only double no-hitter in college softball.
WELCOME NEWCOMERS
This season, the Lions have 10 newcomers on the 23-player roster. Of the 10 newcomers, three are freshmen in
Aaliyah Wilcox (Covington, Ga.),
Victoria Masters (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), and
Tori Tiumalu (Indio, Calif.), while the transfers for the Lions are
Avery Rohlman (Littleton, Colo.) from Midwestern State, Neveah Terrell (Pennsauken, N.J.) from Maryland-Eastern Shore,
Lexi Gamez (Anaheim, Calif.) from Orange Coast College,
Emma Rodrigues (Little Elm - John Paul II) from Grayson College,
J'Lailah Dotson (Hitchcock) from Alvin Community College,
Hailey Montemayor (Lubbock - Monterrey) from Frank Phillips College, and
Maddie Cason (Honey Grove) from Howard Payne. All 10 newcomers made their Lion debuts last season.
PRESEASON POLL
In the preseason poll released by the Southland Conference, the Lions were picked 10th, after finishing ninth each of the last two seasons. The SLC features 10 teams in softball this season with the addition of SFA. The top-eight teams following the regular season will qualify for the SLC Tournament.
2025 SOUTHLAND SOFTBALL PRESEASON POLL
| No. |
Team (First-Place) |
Points |
| 1 |
Southeastern (9) |
152 |
| 2 |
McNeese (9) |
151 |
| 3 |
UIW (2) |
130 |
| 4 |
Nicholls |
106 |
| 5 |
Lamar |
95 |
| 6 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
70 |
| 7 |
HCU |
68 |
| 8 |
SFA |
62 |
| 9 |
Northwestern State |
46 |
| 10 |
EAST TEXAS A&M |
20 |
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Lions begin the weekend with three straight games against teams from the Big Ten conference, beginning with Rutgers on Friday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights played in The Spring Games last week and went 1-4, recording a win over Cleveland State. The Scarlet Knights are led offensively by Jillian Anderson and LA Matthews are both batting .333 with Matthews recording three RBIs and Anderson recording two. Kelsey Hoekstra pitched to an earned run average of 2.69 with four strikeouts in two appearances last season.
Following the game against the Scarlet Knights on Friday afternoon, the next two games for East Texas A&M come against Iowa, who went 2-3 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic last week, winning over Kennesaw State and Marshall. Tory Bennett is the team leader in batting average with .385 along with three RBIs, while Jalen Adams has not allowed an earned run this season in three appearances and has been the winning pitcher in the Hawkeyes' both wins. She has struck out 13. Lion coach
Brittany Miller played at Iowa and was twice named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year.
On Saturday night, the Lions and SIUE play in Commerce for the second consecutive season after the Cougars won all three games in the series a year ago. SIUE played in the UTSA Tournament last week and went 2-3, beating UMass Lowell twice. Lauren Yslava batted .471 last week with two home runs and three RBIs, while Emma Henderson recorded seven RBIs. Henderson also pitched to an ERA of 1.24 in the circle with 10 strikeouts and won both games for the Cougars.
The last game of the weekend comes against Abilene Christian on Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats played the Lions three times in Commerce last season and won all three games. Last weekend, ACU went 0-5 in the Aggie Classic, but lost by just a score of 1-0 at No. 5 Texas A&M. Taylor Haywood batted .417 last week, while Lina Russo pitched to an ERA of 3.77.
-ETAMU-
