Softball Rematches With East Division Foes

This Week in Rattlers Softball
St. Mary's at Texas Woman's & UT Tyler
April 11 & 13 // Games 44-47 // Denton // Tyler
Broadcast: FloCollege

St. Mary's Rattlers
Record    21-22, 16-16 LSC
Ranking    NR
Head Coach    Ronnie Ladines
StMU Record    21-22 (1st Year)
Career Record    Same

Texas Woman's
Record    17-19, 13-17 LSC
Ranking    NR
Head Coach    Gay McNutt
TWU Record    67-76 (3rd Year)
Career Record    695-742 (26th Year)

UT Tyler
Record    36-3, 27-3 LSC
Ranking    3
Head Coach    Mike Reed
UTT Record    850-154 (21st Year)
Career Record    955-185 (24th Year)
 

Return Trip: The St. Mary's Softball team remains on the road, facing Texas Woman's and UT Tyler for the second time this season. The two teams played only two of the four games against each other last week due to weather, and moved the second doubleheader to later in the season.

History Against This Week's Opponents:
        TWU    UTT    
Series    39-22    1-12    
Home    17-7    1-6
    The Park at StMU    10-5    1-6
Away    16-10    0-6
Neutral Location    6-5    0-0
Extra Innings    4-1    0-0    
With StMU in top-25*    19-6    0-0
vs. top-25 Opponent*    7-4    1-12    
Ronnie Ladines Era    0-2    1-1
Longest Winning Streak    9    1
Longest Losing Streak    4    12
Current Streak    L3    W1
*NCAA DII Era Only

A Look Back, TWU: Both teams hit only .173 in the doubleheader as runs were at a premium on the rain-soaked day. The Pioneers won both games, 3-2 and 1-0 with over four hours of weather delays throughout. The Rattlers pitching allowed only one earned run on the day, and on offense all nine hits for the Gold and Blue were by nine different hitters.

A Look Back, UTT: St. Mary's won its first-ever game against UT Tyler in a doubleheader split. The Patriots won game one 6-1 before the Rattlers fought back to take game two, 1-0. Madeline Bloom pitched a complete-game, four hit shutout in the nightcap, while Abigail Dela Rosa was 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and RBI, and Mene'e Padilla threw out a runner attempting to steal second on defense.

Early Runs: St. Mary's is 16-6 this season when scoring the first run of the game, and only 5-16 when the opponent scores first. In 20 of those 21 games, the run for the opposition has come in the first inning. StMU is 8-5 when they score in the first frame.

Donna Fields Day: On Friday, the Rattlers celebrated legendary coach Donna Fields, unveiling a banner that will hang behind home plate honoring her amazing career. Fields was the head coach for 27 years, amassing a record of 1076-508. In her 24 seasons in NCAA Division II, Fields had 141 All-Conference selections, 22 All-American selections and 18 Academic All-District selections.

Going The Distance: In each of her last four starts, senior Madeline Bloom has pitched a complete game, and leads the team with seven on the season. She allowed only five earned runs in those four starts (1.30 ERA) with 10 strikeouts. Bloom ranks seventh in the Lone Star Conference and 74th in the nation with a 2.00 ERA.

A Helping Hand: Sophomore Gabriela Banda continues to lead the Lone Star Conference in assists (101), which ranks her 16th in the nation. Her 2.40 assists per game rank second in the league and 44th nationally.

Youth Movement: Five freshmen have started at least 10 games this season, combining for 104 starts. Miah Corona leads the way, starting 37 games, while Jaylan Roberson has started 23, Izabella Valdez 17, Araceli Arevalo 15, and Milliana Torrez 12.

KPI: The KPI is a metrics system that ranks teams' resumes on a game-by-game basis used by the NCAA for seeding purposes. The Rattlers currently rank 61st in the nation with a KPI of .156. That ranking is sixth among Lone Star Conference teams, trailing UT Tyler (1), West Texas A&M (11), Angelo State (20), Oklahoma Christian (43), and St. Edward's (58). Nine of the 16 teams in the LSC rank within the top 100.

Getting the Hits: St. Mary's currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference and 28th in the nation with 355 hits. West Texas A&M leads the LSC and Division II with 457 hits.

Offense & Defense: Emily Ayala has been getting it done at the plate and in the circle this season. The junior leads the team with a 7-3 record, pitching three complete games. Opponents are hitting .269 against her and she sports a 2.79 ERA. Offensively, she is hitting .329, leads the team with five home runs and 30 RBIs.

Career Achievements: Three seniors currently rank among the top 50 in Division II career active leaders.
Name    Category    Stat    Rank
Lauren Gonzales    Stolen Bases    91    9
Lauryn Ramos    Games Played    197    44
Savannah Youngblood    Saves    10    5

Youngblood also ranks 28th among all three Divisions, while Gonzales ranks 37th.

Fresh Honor: After hitting .545 over the four games at UTPB and SRS with two doubles, three RBIs and 18 putouts, catcher/designated player Izabella Valdez was named the Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Week. She is the first-ever Rattler to win the newly created award.

It's An Honor: Senior pitcher Madeline Bloom earned Lone Star Conference Pitcher of the Week honors after going 2-0 in starts in the South Central Regional Crossover. In 15.0 innings, Bloom allowed only one earned run and teams hit .130 against her. In her relief appearance, Bloom needed only seven pitches in two innings of work.

Saving the Day: Senior Savannah Youngblood broke the St. Mary's career saves record against MSU Denver, earning the 10th of her career. She breaks Ashley Mills mark of nine from 2016-17. Youngblood collected four saves each in 2022 and 2024 and has two this year.