COMMERCE – After playing the first 15 games of the season at home, the East Texas A&M University hits the road for the first time this weekend, playing five games across two states.  

LIONS' WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Day	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Friday	vs. Prairie View A&M (Arlington)	2 p.m.	Live Stats
Friday	at UT Arlington	4:30 p.m.	Watch | Live Stats
Saturday	vs. Kansas City (Norman, Okla.)	10 a.m.	Live Stats
Saturday	vs. Kansas (Norman, Okla.)	12:45 p.m.	Live Stats
Sunday	vs. Kansas City (Norman, Okla.)	11 a.m.	Live Stats

MAVERICK INVITATIONAL
The first two games of the weekend for the Lions this weekend come in Arlington as part of the Maverick Invitational. More information about the Maverick Invitational can be found HERE.

OKLAHOMA OMNI CLASSIC
Following the games in Arlington on Friday, the Lions head to Norman, Oklahoma, for the Oklahoma Omni Classic, on Saturday-Sunday, hosted by the University of Oklahoma at Love's Field and Marita Hynes Field.    

THE 'ET' ERA BEGINS
February 7 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. 

STREAK SNAPPED AGAINST THE BISON
Having lost their previous six, the Lions snapped the losing streak with a 4-3 win over North Dakota State last Saturday in eight innings. The Lions had the early lead in the game before the Bison stormed back to tie it in the eighth. 

TAPIA TOUCHES EM ALL (TWICE)
Coming into the weekend with just one hit on the season, Stephanie Tapia (Yuma, Ariz.) scored the first runs of the game for the Lions against North Dakota State and added another home run on Sunday against South Dakota. She is tied for the most home runs on the team. 

RODRIGUES REMAINS ON FIRE
After batting .500 on opening weekend, Emma Rodrigues (Little Elm - John Paul II) continued to remain on fire at the plate for the Lions, hitting another home run last week. She is the team leader with a batting average of .356 and is tops on the team in runs scored, hits, triples, and is tied for the lead in home runs.   

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 15 games of the season at home, which includes hosting three tournaments. East Texas A&M's first games away from home are against Prairie View A&M and UT Arlington in Arlington on Friday. The Lions' 15 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 faced Iowa and Rutgers twice at home last 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. This season, the Lions are 15 for 19 in stolen base attempts so far. 

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 during opening weekend. 
 
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 play Prairie View A&M on Friday to begin the weekend. The Panthers played four games in Commerce last weekend as part of the Lion Classic, but did not face the Lions. PVAMU is 6-7 on the season, though does have a win over SLC foe UIW earlier this season as well as a win over South Dakota. Janaiya Thomas is the team leader in average, hitting .414 on the season with 12 RBIs, while Mia Nunez has three home runs on the season. Brielle Moreno is pitching to an ERA of 4.74 and is 3-2 in the circle with 17 strikeouts. Friday is the first ever meeting between the Lions and the Panthers. 

UTA and East Texas A&M meet for the second time in as many seasons after the Lions won 5-2 at home last season. The Mavericks are off to a 7-8 start this season, but also have wins over UIW and two against Northwestern State. Kailee Bautista is batting .389 to lead the team and her 11 RBIs are most on the team as well. She has hit five doubles as well, while Elizabeth Baylor has three home runs to lead the team. In the circle, Emilie Hoelscher has a team-best ERA of 3.33 in 21 innings pitched, having appeared in six games and recorded three starts. 

The Lions and Kansas City play twice in Oklahoma, on Saturday at Love's Field and on Sunday at the historic Marita Hynes Field. The Roos have yet to win a game this season, holding a record of 0-9, with having seven true away games thus far this season. Kansas City has twice lost to McNeese this season. Kendyl Anderson is batting .316 to lead the game with two RBIs, while Derika Castillo is the team leader in RBIs with five and home runs with two. Maddy Duvall and Riley Bebb have pitched 18 innings each for the Roos this season and both are 0-3 in the circle. Duvall has an ERA of 8.17, while Bebb has an ERA of 9.33. The two meetings against Kansas Ci are the first ever meetings between the two teams. 

Kansas is off to a 7-5 start on the season, having won five in a row coming into this weekend. The Jayhawks have picked up notable wins over Texas State and Long Beach State. Saturday afternoon marks the first ever meeting between the Lions and the Jayhawks. Aynslee Linduff is batting .474 to lead the team, while Hailey Cripe has team-high 11 RBIs. Kaelee Washington has pitched to an ERA of 1.78 thus far this season with 15 strikeouts and a record of 2-1.