COMMERCE – The 2025 season for the East Texas A&M University softball team begins on Friday afternoon, hosting the East Texas A&M leadoff this weekend at the John Cain Family Softball Complex.
LIONS' WEEKEND SCHEDULE
EAST TEXAS A&M LEADOFF
Softball season in Commerce begins with four teams visiting the Lions for the East Texas A&M Leadoff this weekend. Along with the Lions, also competing this weekend are SFA, Texas Southern, South Dakota State, and South Dakota. Full tournament schedule can be seen
HERE.
THE 'ET' ERA BEGINS
Friday marks 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.
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.
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 first opponent the Lions face this season is South Dakota State, who won the Summit Conference a year ago, but fell in the conference tournament to Omaha. The Jackrabbits have 16 freshmen this season and are picked to finish second in the league this year. The Lions and South Dakota State faced off last season in Denton with the Jackrabbits winning 2-0.
South Dakota and the Lions play twice this weekend and five times overall this season. Both teams won a game against each other last season in Commerce. The Coyotes are picked to finish third in the Summit League this year after going 23-30 last season and 7-10 against Summit opponents. The Lions won 3-2 last season, while the Coyotes returned serve with a 4-1 win.
On Saturday night, the Lions and Texas Southern play on opening weekend for the second straight season after the Tigers won 4-2 in Commerce last season. Texas Southern went 21-19 last season and 14-8 in Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Tigers are picked to finish second in the west division of the SWAC this season.
-ETAMU-
