Tarleton State Softball welcomes Utah Valley to Stephenville for three game WAC series Friday Saturday, riding six game win streak

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - The Texans are set for a three-game series with Utah Valley Friday-Saturday following a big win over North Texas 6-3.

In the last 11 games the Texans have outscored their opponents 73-32 averaging just over 6.5 runs per game. Across the 11 matchups, Tarleton State has scored eight or more four times.

On Monday, the WAC announced as the WAC Pitcher of the Week after her incredible performance in Utah. Schultz added another solid performance to her resume as she tossed her fourth complete game of her record-breaking season and her first shutout of the season as well. She helped guide the Texans to handing the Trailblazers three-straight conference losses.

In her team leading 14th start of the season, she struck out nine marking the ninth time this season she has struck out seven or more. Schultz hit the century mark in strikeouts in her 14th start of the season making her the first freshman in the Division I era for Tarleton State to do so and the first in program history since 2017 when Jordan Withrow hit 100 strikeouts. Schultz completed the feat faster than Jordan Withrow as it took Withrow 25 appearances to do so while it took Schultz just 19 appearances.

Across her single start of the week and two more appearances in relief, she tossed 9.1 IP and struck out 14. She has now struck out 111 total so far this season which puts her with the most on the team, 41 ahead of the next best on the staff. She finished the week with a 0.00 ERA as she gave up just two hits and walked just a single Trailblazer (Utah Tech) as she picked up her team-leading 10th win of the season in Game 1 of the series. Opponents were batting just .067 when Schultz was in the circle.

On Wednesday, the Purple and White remained ranked in the top-25 as they were ranked No. 24 in D1 Softball's Week 9 mid-major rankings.

With the Texans at No. 24, the WAC has just one other member ranked in the top-25 through nine weeks of play. Grand Canyon sits in the No. 4 spot while Seattle U dropped out after sitting at No. 17 in week eight. Tarleton State is responsible for a combined four conference losses for the Lopes and Redhawks. Seattle U dropped out of the rankings after dropping a Friday night doubleheader with California Baptist before picking up their lone win of the weekend on Saturday to avoid the sweep.

In week seven of the season, the Texans headed west to Phoenix for the first time since 2023 looking to avenge their last trip to the Lopes when they fell in the series 1-2. No. 24/RV GCU came into the three-game series with a perfect conference record of 2-0 after game three of the Lope's series with Utah Valley was cut short due to winter weather. The squad from Phoenix finished the weekend with a conference record of 3-2 and an overall record of 23-6.

Tarleton State handed Grand Canyon bookend losses shutting out the Lopes 3-0 in Game 1 followed by an impressive 5-2 rubber match victory in Game 3 to secure the series. The 3-0 win in Game 1 marks just the second time the Lopes have been shutout this season with the first coming at the hands of then No. 8 Oregon on Feb. 15, 2025, when they were shutout 4-0. Both shutouts this season have come on home turf for the squad from Phoenix.

After securing the series win with the 5-2 victory, the Texans not only earned their first ever conference series over the Lopes but handed GCU their first home series loss since 2022 and their first conference series loss (home or away) since 2023.

With a successful road trip out west complete, Tarleton State returned home to the friendly confines of the Tarleton State Softball Complex. The Purple and White welcomed the Red and Black from Seattle U to town and gave Texan Nation plenty to cheer about. The Redhawks came into the weekend with a perfect 6-0 conference record but the Red and Black didn't leave the Ville with a perfect conference record.

After a combined 18 runs in Game 1 of the series, Seattle U took the opening game of the series moving to 7-0 inside Western Athletic Conference Play. With a Game 1 loss, the Texans had to win two straight to secure their second-straight conference series. Tarleton State did just that handing Seattle U their first two conference losses as the Purple and White took Game 2 4-2 followed by a 10-2 (5) run-rule walk-off in Game 3 to secure series wins over the top-two teams in the conference in back-to-back weeks.

Last time the two teams met, Utah Valley took the series over Tarleton State 3-0 in Utah. The Wolverines hold the lead in the all-time series over Tarleton State 6-0. The largest margin

The trip to Stephenville for the Green and White marks their first ever trip to the Cowboy Capital of the World following six meetings in Utah.

Through nine weeks, the Texans have multiple athletes leaving their mark nationally. Austin German currently sits fourth in the nation in doubles with 16 on the season and leads the WAC. With her 15 doubles through 38 games, she ranks second in doubles per game in the nation. With all the offensive power from Germain, she is the sixth toughest to strike out in the nation and on as she strikes out just once every 56.5 plate appearances. Germain sits 41st in the nation in batting average hitting .442 and sits No. 2 in the WAC.

Other Texans top in the nation include who has caught 14 base runners stealing which puts her sixth in the nation and leads all of the WAC. Hill also sits just outside the top-50 in batting average at 52nd hitting .437. sits 15th in the nation in sac bunts per game at 0.26 as the nation's leader is at 0.45 in Kayla Falterman of Louisiana. Fox is also 38th in the nation in on base percentage.

On the pitching side of things, continues to pound the strike zone as she sits 34th in the nation in strikeouts with 114 thus far and leads the WAC. She also ranks 25th in strikeouts per seven innings at 9.0 and leads WAC. Schultz also sits 25th in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio.

In the WAC, the Purple and White continue to hold two of the top-three spots in batting average as Germain leads the Texans ranking second in the conference hitting .442. Hill sits third hitting .437. As a team, Tarleton State is in the top-three of 21 different statistical categories in the WAC. The Texans lead the WAC in team strikeouts per seven innings (6.83), total sac flies (13) and walks (155).

First pitch on Friday is set for 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The doubleheader will air live on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available. Saturday's series finale will stream live on WAC International. Tickets are available for the weekend series.

Following the Texans weekend matchup with the Green and White, Tarleton State will head back on the road for a midweek doubleheader at Lamar on Tuesday before heading to Abilene Christian for another weekend WAC series.

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