COMMERCE – The East Texas A&M University softball team plays its first Southland Conference series at home as it welcomes A&M-Corpus Christi this weekend.
LIONS' SCHEDULE AGAINST THE ISLANDERS
MEET THE CHAMPIONS
Prior to the first game on Friday evening, the Lions will honor members of the track & field that received medals at this year's SLC Indoor Championships. The medalists will throw out the first pitch and sign autographs right after.
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.
LIONS SINK PANTHERS WITH A THREE-RUN SEVENTH
February 28's game between East Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M was scoreless going into the seventh inning. The Lions loaded the bases with no outs and
Charli Anger (Lubbock - Cooper) plated two on a base hit to center and the Lions added another run on a sacrifice fly to snap a four-game losing streak for the win.
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 on February 22 in eight innings. The Lions had the early lead in the game before the Bison stormed back to tie it in the seventh. Anger is the team leader with 12 RBIs and is third with three home runs.
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 the tied for the team lead in home runs with four, with five of her seven hits on the season going extra bases.
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 .310 and is tops on the team in runs scored, hits, and tied for the team 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 has team-best 31 strikeouts on the season.
STAYING HOME TO BEGIN 2025
The Lions played the first 15 games of the season at home, which included hosting three tournaments. East Texas A&M's first games away from home came against Prairie View A&M and UT Arlington in Arlington on February 28. The Lions' 15 straight home games to start the season were 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, challenged Kansas last Saturday and battle 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 24 for 30 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 ISLANDERS
A&M-Corpus Christi comes into this weekend's series in Commerce with a record of 7-16 overall and went 1-2 to begin conference play at home against UIW last week. The Islanders have lost six of the last seven coming into this weekend. All six prior meetings between the Islanders and the Lions have been won by A&M-Corpus Christi, though three have been decided by three runs or less.
At the plate, Mimi Thornton is leading the way for the Islanders with a batting average of .283 with a home run and six RBIs, while Paolina Baez has team-high 15 RBIs and is tied for the team lead in home runs with Crystal Davis, with both having two home runs each. Kendra Winfrey has started six games in the circle for the Islanders, pitching to an ERA of 4.65 with 15 strikeouts and is 3-4 on the season, while Malia Williams is 3-5 in the circle with an ERA of 6.15 and team-leading 23 strikeouts.
-ETAMU-
