This Week in Rattlers Softball
at St. Edward's • May 2 • 12 p.m. (DH)
St. Mary's Rattlers
Record 28-21, 20-16 LSC
Head Coach Taylor Lira
StMU Record 28-21 (1st Year)
St. Edward's Hilltoppers
Record 15-34, 12-26 LSC
Head Coach Hailey Post
SEU Record 60-96 (3rd Year)
By The Numbers
3 St. Mary's hitters collected three home runs in the four-game road trip last week, with Gabriela Banda, Raegan Tennill and Izabella Valdez each hitting a solo shot. The Rattlers now have 22 home runs on the year by seven different players.
103 The Rattlers topped the century mark in stolen bases after going 11-for-11 in steals last week. StMU is 103-115 in swipes, becoming only the fifth team in school history with over 100 steals. The single season record is 128 by the 1990 team.
145.2 The 145.2 innings pitched by senior Ariella Saenz are the most for the Rattlers since Catalina Cavazos threw 176 frames in 2023. Saenz is second in the Lone Star Conference in innings pitched and fifth with 28 appearances.
Final Week: The St. Mary's Softball team wraps up the regular season against rival St. Edward's. The two teams will play a doubleheader in Austin on Saturday beginning at noon. The two teams split the first doubleheader back on Feb. 15 to start Lone Star Conference play.
Battle of the Saints: St. Mary's has already clinched the trophy in the annual Battle of the Saints against St. Edward's. The Rattlers have 4.5 points, winning women's soccer, volleyball, STUNT and baseball, while the Hilltoppers have 2.5 points for men's soccer, and women's basketball and the teams split the series in men's basketball.
A Look Back: The Rattlers shut out the Hilltoppers in the first game, 7-0, then dropped game two, 7-4. Raegan Tennill was 4-for-7 in the series, while Gabriela Banda and Iliana Melendez were 4-for-6. Senior Ariella Saenz threw a complete-game three-hit shutout in the opener.
Last Time Out: St. Mary's went 3-1 on the long road trip, sweeping Sul Ross State and splitting with Western New Mexico for the second-straight time. Both Miah Corona and Gabriela Banda were 7-for-14 for the week with four of Banda's hits going for extra bases. Ariella Saenz was 2-0 in the circle.
Fang Awards: Samiya Johnson was named the St. Mary's Department of Athletics Female Breakout Athlete of the Year, while Bryley Westfahl was named the Co-Newcomer of the Year for the women with Brielle Burns from Women's Golf at the end of the year banquet.
Going Streaking: Junior Gabriela Banda leads the team with an eight-game reached base safely streak. It is her second-longest streak of the year, trailing the nine she reached from March 22 through April 11, as well as her first nine games of the year. Banda has been on base in 17 of her last 18 games.
Selfless: St. Mary's ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 12th in the nation with 22 sacrifice flies and fourth in the league and 69th nationally with 33 sacrifice bunts. Sophomore Miah Corona leads the team with four sacrifice flies, which is fifth in the Lone Star, while junior Iliana Melendez leads the league with 0.24 sacrifice bunts per game.
Solo Shots: Thirteen of the team's 22 home runs have come this season with no runners on base, and all three last week were solo. Six of the last seven for the Rattlers have come with no one on the bases, and Gabriela Banda's at Western New Mexico led off the fourth inning.
Setting the Table: When leading off an inning, St. Mary's hitters are doing an excellent job of getting on base, as the team is hitting .420 to begin a frame. Not surprisingly, the usual leadoff hitter, Bryley Westfahl, leads the team with 32 hits, and she's hitting .400 as the first to bat in an inning. Iliana Melendez has the highest average at .650 (13-for-20).
In the Standings: St. Mary's is currently tied for seventh place in the Lone Star Conference standings with one week left in the regular season. The conference tournament takes the top nine teams, and will be at the site of the regular season champion.
Few and Far Between: Senior Raegan Tennill has struck out only twice in April and her one K at Western New Mexico is the only one in her last 30 plate appearances. Tennill only had five K's in the month of March, and hasn't had multiple strikeouts in a doubleheader in the last 14 series.
Shutout Times Three: Senior Ariella Saenz threw her third complete-game shutout in the 8-0 game one win at Texas A&M International on April 10. She ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 75th nationally with her three shutouts, and she is one of four Rattlers to throw one this season, as Emery Aguilar, Emily Ayala and Breanna Ford each have one. It is the first time in St. Mary's DII history that four different pitchers have thrown a complete game shutout.
Chaos on the Bases: St. Mary's has stolen 103 bases in 2026, ranking 32nd nationally with 2.10 stolen bases per game. The 103 swipes already ranks 5th on the St. Mary's single-season list for most steals, and is only 25 off the school record of 128 by the 1990 team.
Super Swipers: For only the fourth time in St. Mary's Division II era there are four players with 10 or more stolen bases in a season. Bryley Westfahl has 31 steals, while Abigail Dela Rosa has 15, Raegan Tennill 14 and Iliana Melendez has 12. The 2003, 2006 and 2023 teams also had four players with double digit thefts, and Dela Rosa swiped 12 in 2023 in her first season.
It's an Honor: For her efforts in the circle at OC and Cameron, senior pitcher Ariella Saenz was named the Lone Star Conference Pitcher of the Week. Saenz started three of the four games in the circle, going 2-0 with a pair of complete-game victories. Saenz held OC to four hits in a 2-1 win and came back the next day to shut out Cameron. In her three appearances she was 2-0 with an 0.86 ERA.
Helping Hand: Senior Raegan Tennill ranks 15th in the nation in assists and second in the Lone Star Conference with 121. Tennill is now tied for eighth in St. Mary's history with 360 career assists, knotting Tiffany Licon (2019-2022).
You're Out!: Sophomore first baseman Miah Corona collected 18 putouts in the win at Cameron on March 29. It ties for the third-most in a single game in StMU history, and is the most since Destiny Salinas had 20 on March 2, 2024. The 18 chances also tie for the fifth-most in Rattlers history.
Taking the Extra Base: Bryley Westfahl leads the team with 31 steals which ranks 35th in the nation. There are eight players on the team besides Westfahl who have successfully stolen three or more bases in Abigail Dela Rosa (15-17), Raegan Tennill (14-14), Iliana Melendez (12-13), Gabriela Banda (5-5), Miah Corona (5-6), Peyton Miers (5-5), Emma Wilson (4-5) and Milliana Torrez (3-3).
Making Milestones: Sophomore Miah Corona needs two hits for 100 in her career. Senior Abigail Dela Rosa is five runs shy of scoring 100 and senior Ariella Saenz needs 11 more strikeouts to fan her 100th at StMU.
A Sweep: Winning both games at St. Edward's would give St. Mary's a 30-win season for the 24th time in school history. The record for wins in a season is 58 by the NCAA National Championship team in 2002.
