Softball Begins Home Portion of 2026 Season on Sunday

This Week in Rattlers Softball

St. Edward's • Feb. 15 • 1/3 p.m.
Our Lady of the Lake • Feb. 17 • 3/5 p.m.
The Park at StMU

 

St. Mary's Rattlers
Record    8-3, 0-0 LSC
Head Coach    Taylor Lira
StMU Record    8-3 (1st Year)

St. Edward's Hilltoppers
Record    2-7, 0-0 LSC
Head Coach    Hailey Post
SEU Record    47-69 (3rd Year)

Our Lady of the Lake Saints
Record    4-0, 0-0 RRC
Head Coach    Jody Armijo Jr.
OLLU Record    4-0 (1st Year)

By The Numbers

9 St. Mary's leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks second in the nation in sacrifice flies with nine. Only Colorado Christian has more than the Rattlers with 10. The school record is 30 in a season by the 2023 team.
4 Junior Gabriela Banda needs four more hits to record the 100th of her career. She has 96 hits in 107 games for the Rattlers
4 St. Mary's is 4-0 this season in one-run games, and they are 7-0 when holding an opponent to five or fewer runs.

Home Sweet Home: The St. Mary's Softball team squares off against a pair of rivals to open the home portion of its 2026 season. The Rattlers begin Lone Star Conference play on Sunday in the Battle of the Saints. First pitch on Sunday for game one is scheduled for 1 p.m. On Tuesday, crosstown foe Our Lady of the Lake comes to The Park for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.

Banda's Back: After missing the first week of the season, junior Gabriela Banda returned to the lineup and made quite the statement. The third baseman hit .579 over the six games with three doubles, three home runs, two sacrifice flies and she stole a base. She had a 1.211 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage in helping the Rattlers go 4-2.

Battle of the Saints: In the annual competition between St. Mary's and St. Edward's, the two teams are tied 2-2 in 2025-26. The Rattlers won the point for two of the three fall sports (volleyball, women's soccer), while the Hilltoppers won for men's soccer and are up 0.5-0 in both the men's and women's basketball series, with the conclusion on Feb. 26. Each team will be awarded one point for the series win in baseball, softball, and STUNT during the spring.

Alvy Early Memorial Recap: The Rattlers went 4-2 at the Alvy Early Memorial Classic, defeating Harding via run rule, Southeastern Oklahoma State, William Jewell and Emporia State, and lost to Missouri S&T and Truman State. The team hit .340 for the tournament and 19 of the 55 hits were for extra bases.

Taking the Extra Base: St. Mary's is already 30-for-31 in stolen bases through the first 11 games, and the one caught stealing was in a rundown that allowed a run to score on a first and third play.  Junior transfer Bryley Westfahl leads the team with 13 swipes, which is more than 11 teams in the Lone Star Conference. Iliana Melendez (4-4), Miah Corona (3-3), Raegan Tennill (3-3), and Abigail Dela Rosa (2-2) have also successfully stolen multiple bases this season.

Made to be Broken: Senior Raegan Tennill entered her final season with 11 sacrifice flies in her career, needing two more to break the record, and did it in the first week. Tennill had sacrifice flies against both Mississippi College and Simon Fraser, breaking the school record of 12 held by Vianna Gutierrez-Touchtone (2012-15).

Early Leads: St. Mary's is 6-1 this season when scoring the first run of the game and 2-2 when the opponent scores first. However, the Rattlers have also been good late, winning two games in walkoff fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Brought Big Bat: Junior college transfer Iliana Melendez brought a big bat with her from San Jacinto. After hitting .409 last year for the perennial powerhouse team, Melendez is hitting .344 this season for the Rattlers with an .500 slugging percentage and a .400 on-base percentage. Melendez leads the team with two triples in her 11 hits, and she's added two sacrifice bunts and four stolen bases.

Walkoff Times Two: Senior Raegan Tennill was at the plate for both of St. Mary's walkoff victories. Against Southeastern Oklahoma, Tennill found the gap in right center to score both Emery Aguilar and Bryley Westfahl, while against Chadron State, Tennill hit a sharp grounder to the right side, that was overthrown by the second baseman, plating freshman Peyton Miers.

What We're Made Of: The St. Mary's roster is comprised of 27 student-athletes. Fourteen are returners, five are transfers and eight are freshmen. All 27 hail from the state of Texas and 10 of them are from San Antonio or the surrounding area (Bulverde, Floresville).

What's Returning: The Rattlers return 14 players off last season's team that finished 26-29, including senior Emily Ayala and junior Gabriela Banda, who were both named to the 2025 LSC All-Conference teams, and are listed as LSC Players to Watch in 2026. The Rattlers also return starters Miah Corona (1B), Abigail Dela Rosa (CF), and Raegan Tennill (3B).

They're Smart Too: A week ago, the LSC released the Commissioner's Honor Roll for the fall semester, and 20 softball student-athletes earned at least a 3.30 GPA, including Samiya Johnson, Jaylan Roberson and AJ Sanchez, who all posted a perfect 4.00 in the fall. The other who made the team are Emery Aguilar, Emily Ayala, Gabriela Banda, Miah Corona, Abigail Dela Rosa, Breanna Ford, Neveah Hallmark, Bella Magaro, Madison Magaro, Hannah Melendez, Iliana Melendez, Peyton Miers, Ariella Saenz, Raegan Tennill, Milliana Torrez, Bryley Westfahl and Emma Wilson.

Middle of the Pack: St. Mary's was chosen in a vote by the LSC coaches, SIDs and media to finish ninth in the LSC standings. The Rattlers received 445 points. Two-time defending national champion UT Tyler was voted the favorite, while West Texas A&M, Angelo State, Oklahoma Christian and Lubbock Christian rounded out the top five.