This Week in Rattlers Softball
Texas Woman's • March 20 • 3 & 5 p.m.
UT Tyler • March 22 • 1 & 3 p.m.
St. Mary's Rattlers
Record 18-11, 10-6 LSC
Head Coach Taylor Lira
StMU Record 18-11 (1st Year)
Texas Woman's Pioneers
Record 13-13, 10-6 LSC
Head Coach Gay McNutt
TWU Record 84-99 (4th Year)
UT Tyler Patriots
Record 21-7, 13-3 LSC
Head Coach Jason Miller
UTT Record 21-7 (1st Year)
By The Numbers
13 Junior Iliana Melendez hit her fourth triple of the season and is tied for the Lone Star Conference lead, ranking 13th in the nation. The school record for triples in a season is eight by Natalie Hill from 1999.
6 There are six Rattlers this season hitting above .300, led by Gabriela Banda at .389, while Miah Corona is right behind her at .385. St. Mary's is hitting .315 for the season, with a slugging percentage of .439 and an on-base percentage of .391.
Home Sweet Home: The St. Mary's Softball team returns to The Park at StMU for a pair of doubleheaders against Texas Woman's and UT Tyler. The Rattlers and Pioneers split the series in Denton on Feb. 28, while this will be the lone DH against the Patriots in 2026.
Last Time Out: St. Mary's split a doubleheader at Eastern New Mexico on Friday and dropped both games to new #1 West Texas A&M on Saturday. Sophomore Miah Corona had a stellar week at the plate, hitting .667 (8-for-12) with four RBI and a .917 slugging percentage. Senior Abigail Dela Rosa had two doubles among her five hits as she hit .455 for the week and stole a base.
A Look Back: In the first two games against Texas Woman's, junior Iliana Melendez hit a perfect 1.000 on the day, going 4-for-4 with a triple, four walks and a stolen base. Emery Aguilar recorded the win in the circle, pitching 6.2 innings over the two games, striking out seven. The Pioneers won game one, 3-0, while the Rattlers came back for a 16-10 game two victory, and they are now 41-24 all-time against TWU.
Two-Out Rally: The left side of the infield has done a great job at the plate with two outs this season, as senior shortstop Raegan Tennill and junior third baseman Gabriela Banda have combined for 20 two-out RBIs, accounting for almost half of the team's 48 RBI with two outs. Banda leads the team with 12, while Tennill has eight.
Mashin' Miah: At Eastern New Mexico on Friday, Miah Corona hit her third home run of the season, tying for the team lead with Gabriela Banda. Corona has at least one hit in each of the last five games, and has reached base in nine straight, two shy of her career-long of 11.
Lovin' the Lone Star: Senior Raegan Tennill is hitting .396 in Lone Star Conference play, up 32 points from her overall batting average of .364. Tennill leads the team with 19 hits, and she is 3-3 in stolen bases in the 16 games.
New Home = Success: Junior Emery Aguilar spent her first two seasons at UT Permian Basin, and has significantly improved her numbers since moving across the league to the Rattlers. Aguilar leads the team with a 3.07 ERA, less than half what she averaged in 2025 (6.51), and has tripled her win total from a year ago (2-10) to 7-1.
A Shutout for You and You: Senior Breanna Ford became the fourth Rattler pitcher to throw a shutout this season when she defeated Midwestern State 2-0 on March 6. Ford allowed only two hits over the seven innings, striking out two and not walking a batter. She joins Emery Aguilar, Emily Ayala and Ariella Saenz on the shutout list. It is the first time in the school's Division II era that four different pitchers have thrown a complete game shutout, though in 1999 four pitchers through shutouts and all five hurlers were involved in a shutout during the year.
Chaos on the Bases: St. Mary's has already stolen 72 bases in 2026, leading the Lone Star and ranking 22nd nationally with 2.48 stolen bases per game. The 72 swipes already ranks 12th on the St. Mary's single-season list for most steals. The record for the most swipes in a year is 128 by the 1990 team (128-140).
Taking The Extra Base: Bryley Westfahl leads the team with 23 steals, which is more than seven of the teams in the Lone Star, and ranks 12th in the nation among individuals. There are 14 players on the team who have stolen a base this season, and seven besides Westfahl who have successfully stolen three or more bases in Iliana Melendez (9-9), Raegan Tennill (8-8), Abigail Dela Rosa (9-10), Gabriela Banda (4-4), Peyton Miers (4-4), Miah Corona (3-3) and Emma Wilson (3-3).
Setting the Table: Junior Bryley Westfahl is 19-for-48 (.396) this season when leading off an inning, while Iliana Melendez, the number two hitter in the lineup is 10-for-13 (.769) when the first batter in an inning. The Rattlers as a team are hitting at a .440 clip to begin the frame, up from .315 overall.
Back-to-Back Jacks: For the first time this season, a pair of St. Mary's hitters left the yard on consecutive at bats as Ariella Saenz and Izabella Valdez hit home runs in the seventh at Texas Woman's. It is the 34th time in the school's Division II era (2000-present) that players have hit back-to-back home runs in a game.
Closing In: Seniors Abigail Dela Rosa and Raegan Tennill are both closing in on hitting milestones. Dela Rosa is five hits shy of 100 for her career, while Tennill needs five hits for 150 and two RBIs for 100. Gabriela Banda is also 13 RBI shy of 100 for her career.
On The Fly: St. Mary's is second the Lone Star and ranks 10th in all of Division II in sacrifice flies, hitting 14 through the first 29 games of the season. Gabriela Banda and Izabella Valdez are 29th nationally with three, while Miah Corona, and Raegan Tennill each have two, tying for 85th in the nation.
Double Trouble: Head Coach Taylor Lira wants the tradition of St. Mary's ranking among the best in the nation in double plays to continue. In five of the last six seasons the Rattlers have ranked in the top 40 in Division II in double plays, including ranking third in 2021. This year's team has already turned 11, ranking 19th out of 265 teams.
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).
They're Smart Too: The LSC recently 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 others 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.
