COMMERCE – The East Texas A&M University softball team is headed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, this weekend to compete in the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time since moving up to NCAA Division I.
The Lions are grouped with McNeese, UIW, and Lamar in the double-elimination Lake Charles bracket this weekend. The winner of the bracket will advance to the SLC Championship series next week against the winner of the Hammond bracket. Championship Central of the SLC Tournament, including the full schedule, can be found
HERE.
LIONS' SCHEDULE IN LAKE CHARLES BRACKET
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.
HISTORY IN SPACE CITY
Needing a win on the final day of the season, the Lions run-ruled HCU, 15-1, in the series finale last Saturday to clinch the final bid into the Southland tournament, the first for the Lions in the Division I era. The 15 runs scored in the win over the Huskies are also the most scored by the program in a game in the Division I era and the win was also East Texas A&M's 10th overall win of the season and sixth conference win, which are both new Division I era records.
LOOKING TO REPEAT THE FEAT
East Texas A&M has made the conference tournament for the first time since joining the Southland. The last time the Lions made the conference tournament, East Texas A&M emerged as 2022 Lone Star Conference Tournament champions, picking up wins over the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5 seeds in the tournament.
BIG CATS, BIG BATS
The Lions added two home runs in the series at HCU to increase their season total to 35 on the season, which are the most for any team in the Southland during the regular season.
Tatum Wright (Frisco - Centennial) hit both home runs against the Huskies and is the team leader with 11 home runs. She also led all SLC hitters with nine home runs during conference play.
CASON, WRIGHT EARN ALL-SLC RECOGNITION
Both
Maddie Cason (Honey Grove) and Wright were named to second team all-Southland on Wednesday. Wright earned her honor at the first base position and Cason in the outfield. Wright led the conference in home runs during conference play, while Cason led the team in batting average during the season and finished the regular top 25 in the conference in batting average, stolen bases, and fielding percentage. The two all-conference honorees in the same season are the most for the Lions in the Division I era and are the first all-conference honors since 2023 as ETAMU now has three all-Southland players over last three years.
WRIGHT NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Helping the Lions earn a postseason bid, Wright earned the first SLC Hitter of the Week award for the Lions this season for her performance in the HCU series. She batted .545 on the weekend with a pair of home runs, two doubles, and six RBIs, while slugging 1.275.
LIONS RALLY TO TAKE THE SERIES OVER LADY DEMONS
In all three games, the Lions trailed by multiple runs in each game to Northwestern State, but rallied to win two of three to take the series, it marked the second series win for the Lions, who have won both series over the Lady Demons in Commerce over the last three years.
DARBY IS A DOUBLES MACHINE
Darby Hickey (Plano Senior) had five plate appearances in the series at Lamar, her first appearance since February 16. She went 4 for 5 in the series, hitting three doubles and drove in five runs. She came in as a pinch hitter with a runner on each time in Beaumont and found a way to bring the runner home each time. She had a hit in the series against Northwestern State as well. Eight of her 15 hits on the season have been doubles.
LIONS ROLL OVER ISLANDERS FOR FIRST SLC SWEEP
East Texas A&M took all three games at home over A&M-Corpus Christi to pick up the first sweep since joining the Southland, it was also the first series win for the Lions since 2023. The Lions picked up a pair of 9-1 wins in five innings on Friday and came back from being down 3-1 to win Saturday's finale by a score of 6-3. The three wins on the weekend surpass the two conference wins for East Texas A&M last season.
TATUM IS ON FIRE
Wright powered the Lion offense throughout the weekend against the Islanders, hitting two home runs and eight RBIs. She batted .857 in the series, which is second in the country among all Division I batters in the week that had at least five at-bats, while her slugging percentage of 2.143 was best in the country among all players that played at least two games during the week. Five of her six hits in the series went extra bases. including two doubles, a triple, and two home runs. She leads the team in home runs (9), RBIs (26), and doubles (11).
SANCHEZ NAMED SLC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Following a 2-0 week in the circle against the Islanders,
Julia Sanchez (The Kinkaid School) was named the SLC Pitcher of the Week last Monday, her second career weekly honor. She went 2-0 in the circle with an earned run average of 2.33 in 12 innings. She tossed a complete game in both her starts.
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 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 34 strikeouts on the season. She went 2-0 in the series against Northwestern State.
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 Wednesday.
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 50 for 61 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 last season.
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 first game of the tournament for the Lions comes against McNeese on Thursday afternoon. The Cowgirls are the four-time defending conference champions and hosting the SLC Tournament for the second time in three years. During the regular season, McNeese won all three games over the Lions at home and had six players earn all-conference honors, including Kassidy Chance being named SLC Freshman of the Year and Maddie Taylor was named SLC Pitcher of the Year. The Cowgirls' skipper James Landreneau was named the SLC Coach of the Year.
Depending on the result of Thursday's games, the Lions will either play Lamar or UIW in the second round on Friday. East Texas A&M lost all three games in the regular season series to both teams during the regular season, though all three games against Lamar were won via walk-off by the Cardinals. UIW's Victoria Altamirano was named the SLC Player of the Year for the second year in a row, leading the conference in home runs and second in batting average as the Cardinals had three players earn all-conference honors.
Lamar had three all-conference honorees this year as Veronica Harrison was named to first team all-SLC, while both Cala Wilson and Trinit Brandon were named to the SLC Defensive team.
-ETAMU-
