Kingsville - One week after ending its historic win streak with a split against St. Mary's on Sunday, the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team is headed on the road to take on the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps (Friday, 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.) and the Midwestern St. Mustangs (Sunday, 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.).

Despite Sunday's loss, the Javelinas are in a strong position in the Lone Star Conference standings, holding a 21-6 in-conference record and sitting in the fifth spot in the LSC standings. The team has succeeded largely on the strength of its blistering-hot offense, which averages 7.32 runs per game, the 11th-most in the nation. Not far behind are its on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging, which are the 19th- and 21st-best numbers in the nation respectively.

"We really feel like we've grown in that department, as far as what we're going to see, what to expect during these games, and our scouting has been spot on," Head Coach Orlando Salinas said. "Our hitters understand what they're going to see in the contest, and they're growing."

Last weekend saw Kingsville come up with a pair of high-octane wins that saw the team go down to the wire with its opponents. On Friday, it was sophomore SS Megan Geyer who made her return as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, knocking a two-RBI walkoff double off of the wall in right center to give TAMUK a game-one win over St. Edward's. Just two days later, it was sophomore RF Lainee Ballin who went deep over the left field wall to knock an eighth-inning walkoff grand slam out of the park, giving the Javelianas a game-one win over St. Marys.

Scouting the Competition: The Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps (19-19, 15-13 LSC)

The Lady Chaps are two games over .500 in LSC play and have leaned on strong pitching performances to lead the squad.. Recently, however, LCU has lost three of its last four games and five of its last seven. Friday begins a stretch where-in eight of its next 12 games are at home in Lubbock, giving the team an opportunity to right the ship and solidify its spot in the LSC Tournament (currently eighth, top nine qualify).

LCU has three pitchers who enter the weekend with top-15 ERAs in the conference, led by senior RHP Ashlinn Hamilton's 2.53 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. Sophomore pitcher Kendall Ward has been absolutely fantastic as the team's closer. Her .223 opposing batter average is the fifth-lowest in the conference, and her eight saves this year leads the nation.

The last 10 matchups between the two squads have been split evenly, 5-5, though Kingsville came out on top of both matchups last year, sweeping the Lady Chaps in Lubbock, including a 9-1 win in five innings in game one of the doubleheader. 

Scouting the Competition: The Midwestern St. Mustangs (6-32, 4-24 LSC)

The Mustangs    have struggled this year, and have lost 15 of their last 17 games entering this weekend. One of those wins, however, came on Saturday with a 6-1 win over UT-Dallas in game one of the doubleheader matchup.

The team is aggressive on the base paths, having stolen the seventh-most bases in the LSC entering the weekend. 

In the two programs' head-to-head matchups, Kingsville has dominated, winning 19 of last teams' last 21 contests. Included in those wins was a high-scoring doubleheader sweep of the Mustangs in Kingsville that saw the Javelinas score 19 runs in two games.

Javelina Quick Hitters:

• Head Coach Orlando Salinas, who is in his third full season as Kingsville's skipper, made history last weekend, becoming the fourth Head Coach in program history to reach 100 wins
• Two weeks ago, freshman INF Ella Srubar posted a career DH against Sul Ross St., in which she hit three home runs, going 4-for-5 with 6 RBIs and a pair of walks, helping her earn the LSC's Freshman of the Week award - she is the first Javelina in program history to receive the award
• Senior RHP Andrea Martinez has stepped into a starting role for Kingsville and has been excellent, striking out 97 batters, the seventh-most in the LSC
• Earlier in the LSC season, Martinez had perhaps the best stretch of her career: she threw a complete-game win in game one, before entering game two as a relief pitcher and picking up a save… two weekends in a row.
• She is one of two pitchers in the LSC to post a CG win and a save in the same DH, and the only one to have done it twice - She earned an LSC Pitcher of the Week award for one such performance, the first of her career
• In the midst of its historic winning streak, TAMUK upset No.10 Angelo St. with a sweep at home (5-3, 8-2), the team's first sweep of a top-10-ranked opponent since 2022 - the team has now won 11 straight games (and counting), all of them in conference play - the eighth-longest winning streak in program history and the longest active one in the LSC
• Kingsville has been posting incredible offensive output this season, including a DH sweep of UT-Dallas in which it put up 30 total runs(9, 21) - marking the second time already this year that the team has scored 26-plus runs in one doubleheader
• The 21-run performance in game two of that series set multiple records: the most runs scored in a single since 2005, and the first time in school history that a team has scored 20-plus runs in a single game twice in the same seasonTotal on the year, the team averages 7.32 runs per game, the 11th-best number in the nation
• Early in LSC play, the team came up with an upset win over No.13 Oklahoma Christian, the first win over a ranked opponent in LSC play for the Javelinas since 2024
• The Javelinas just ended the second nine-plus game winning streak of its season, going on a tear that stretched to 14 games, tied for the fifth-longest in program history
• Against Cameron and Oklahoma Christian, junior first baseman Dakota Martinez had one of the best hitting weekends a Javelina has had in recent memory. She went 9-for-15 with six extra base hits and seven RBI - she hit for the cycle against Cameron, the first time a Javelina has accomplished such a feat since 2023
• For that stellar weekend, which saw D. Martinez hit post a .647 on-base percentage and slug 1.333, earned her the Lone Star Conference's Hitter of the Week award, the first of her career and second won by a Hog this season
• Not long after, she won the second LSC Hitter of the Week award of her career, when she went 3-5 with a homer and a walk in a doubleheader sweep of No.10 Angelo St., becoming the first Javelina ever to win two LSC HotW awards in the same season
• Early in the season, sophomore outfielder Lainee Ballin had a stellar weekend at the Southern Colorado Crossover, hitting .588 with three home runs, keying Kingsville to the first five of nine straight wins and earning the Lone Star Conference's Hitter of the Week award
• Freshman OF Victoria Vargas has had a great start to her collegiate career, hitting .411 (6th in the LSC), scoring 36 runs (T-14th in the LSC), stealing 12 bags (T-10th in the LSC) and walking 20 times (19th in the LSC). So far this year, she boasts a .504 on-base percentage (10th in the LSC)
• Kingsville's offense has been cooking - as a squad, its .422 on-base percentage is the 19th-best in the nation. It also ranks fourth in the conference in walks, having drawn 163 on the season, and have stolen the fifth-most bases in the LSC (58)
• In conference play, the team's .338 batting average (3rd), .427 on-base percentage (2nd), and .503 slugging percentage (3rd) are all top three in the LSC
• The longball has been there for Kingsville as well: the Javelinas rank third in the conference with 37 jacks on the season
• Defensively, the pitching staff allowed just 19 home runs this year, the fourth-fewest in the LSC