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CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M hits the road for the second straight weekend to open the 2019 season at the LCU Invitational on Feb. 10-11 at Plainscapital Park where they will play a pair of games against Lubbock Christian and UC-Colorado Springs.
A LOOK BACK AT ARKANSAS TECH WINTER INVITE
The Lady Buffs went 3-3 in the opening tournament of the season where they hit .284 with 11 doubles, two triples and four home runs for 32 RBIs in wins over Washburn, #25 Augustana and Minnesota Duluth.
LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN
The Lady Chaps opened their 2019 campaign with four wins at the TAJ Hospitality College Softball Kickoff at Plainscapital Park. They scored 10-plus runs in those four victories with their only loss coming in a 4-2 decision to MSU Texas.
They are led offensively by Alivia Villarreal and Megan Darling and Annika Schwartzenberg who are all hitting over .500. Villarreal is hitting a team-high .563 with nine hits one double with eight RBIs and 10 total bases. Darling is hitting .556 with Schwartzenberg at .538 with a team-high four doubles and seven RBIs.
Jordan Wehr, Amber Carlton and Taylor Franco have all got starts in the circles for LCU. Wehr is 1-0 in four appearances and two starts with an ERA of 2.03 allowing seven runs (three earned) on 12 hits in 10 1/3 innings of work.
Darren Hays is in his eighth season lead the LCU softball program accumulating an overall record of 336-87-7. In 2017, he led the Lady Chaps to their first Heartland Conference Tournament title and appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
UC-COLORADO SPRINGS
The Mountain Lions opened the season at the MSU Denver Invite where they went 2-2 with wins ove MSU Denver and Sioux Falls.
Amanda Nobles is hitting a team-high .667 from the plate with four hits in her six plate appearances with one double and five total bases. Rayle Glover has team-high five hits for a .417 average while driving in a pair of run. Melissa Martinek and Payton Romines have both driving in five runs while Martinek has drawn four walks fora .571 on-base percentage.
Much like Lubbock Christian, UCCS has started three different pitchers in the circle. Taylor Reidhead has started two of their four games for a 1-1 record allowing nine runs (nine earned) on 12 hits in 11 1/3 innings for a 5.56 ERA. Braelyne Crenshaw picked pu the other win for the Mountain Lions as went all five innings in their win over USF allowing two runs (two earned) on six hits for her first career complete game.
Riki Rothbauer-Stubbs is in her fourth season as the head coach at UCCS where she has led the Mountain Lions to the RMAC Tournament twice. Before making the move to Colorado Springs, Colo., she coached at Northwestern Oklahoma Texas A&M-Kingsille and North Alabama.
MOORE NAMED TO NFCA PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCHLIST
WT's Kylee Moore has benn maned to the Schutt Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II National Player of the Year Top-50 Watchlist. The senior first baseman is one of 10 players from the South Central region represented on the list.
The Top 25 finals for the 2019 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year award will be announced on April 25. A student-athlete does not have to be on the watch list to be considered for the Top 25. The Top 10 finalists will be announced on May 14 and the winner will be recognized on May 30 following the conclusion of the 201 season.
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
Angelo State picked up 12 first-place votes to sit atop of the LSC preseason poll followed by WT (5 first-place, 256), Tarleton (4 first place, 255), Texas A&M-Commerce (5 first-place, 253), Cameron (1 first-place, 202), Texas A&M-Kingsville (1 first place, 176), MSU Texas (120), Texas Woman's (120), Eastern New Mexico (87), UT Permian Basin (65) and Western New Mexico (32).
NFCA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL (PRESEASON)
Reigning National Champion Southern Indiana picked up all 16 first-place votes to rank first with 400 points followed by Southern Arkansas (363), North Georgia (354), Saint Anslem (353), Saint Leo (341), Angelo State (330), Chico State (320), West Chester (274), Texas A&M-Commerce (266) and Concordia Irvine (239) to round out the top ten.
The South Central Region was represented by Angelo State (6th), Texas A&M-Commerce (9th), Tarleton (14th), Dixie State (17th) and Colorado Mesa (21st).
UP NEXT
WT opens Lone Star Conference play next week, Feb.15-16, when they host Western New Mexico at Schaeffer Park.
