Kingsville - The Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team is back in Kingsville for the final time this weekend, as the Javelinas are set to take on No.6 West Texas A&M on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. and Eastern New Mexico on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Sunday's matchup with the Greyhounds will mark the team's senior day, where it will honor its four graduating seniors, OF Sydney Christopher, OF Shelbie Peal, RHP Kristina Nash, and RHP Andrea Martinez, who will all be recognized prior to first pitch in the first half of the doubleheader at 12:40 p.m..

The Hogs will ride their red-hot offense into a showdown with one of the nation's best on Friday, where they will try to avenge a sweep in Kingsville that the Lady Buffs dolled out last season, including a down-to-the-wire one-run finish in game two of that DH. Kingsville has been trending that way as of late, with its recent play featuring a number of high-octane finishes. Three of the Javelinas' last eight games have gone to extra innings - TAMUK won all of them. Most recently, Kingsville came up with a 1-0 victory in a 10-inning slugfest with Midwestern St. in game one of last Sunday's DH.

Scouting the Competition: The No.6 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs (38-6, 28-4 LSC)

The sixth-ranked team in the nation has had another incredible year thus far. Most recently, the Lady Buffs have won four games in a row, featuring a sweep of No.12 Oklahoma Christian and a pair of five-inning, run-rule victories over UT-Dallas last weekend.

The team's offense has been unbelievably good, and leads the LSC in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, and RBI, total bases, walks, runs, and home runs. It ranks top three in the nation in each one of those stat categories.

 Senior INF Jordyn De Los Santos has been one of the nation's best hitters, ranking top-10 in all of D2 with her .507 batting average. Her 13 homers and 50 RBI lead the LSC.

The Lady Buffs have won 14 of their last 15 matchups with TAMUK, including a sweep in last year's doubleheader in Kingsville. 

Scouting the Competition: The Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds (16-23, 12-20 LSC)

Despite a strong start to LSC play, the Greyhounds have lost 12 of their last 14 games entering this weekend, which will be the final road weekend of the year for ENMU. One of the team's two wins in that stretch, however, came in five innings against UT-Dallas on Sunday. 

Eastern brings a strong offense that has only gotten better since the start of LSC play. In conference play (32 games), the team has the seventh-best SLG in the LSC (.449), the sixth-best OBP in the LSC (.406), and is tied for fourth place in most home runs hit (29). 

Senior RHP Marissa Rodriguez has been the Greyhounds' best pitcher this year, bringing a 4.11 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP into the weekend. She has thrown four complete games and holds an 8-2. 

The Javelinas have dominated the recent head-to-head matchups between the two programs, taking 13 of the last 17 games against the Greyhounds. ENMU, however, game out on top of both of last year's contests, which were played in Portales, NM.

Javelina Quick Hitters:

• Head Coach Orlando Salinas, who is in his third full season as Kingsville's skipper, made history in the team's last home weekend, becoming the fourth Head Coach in program history to reach 100 wins
• Earlier in LSC play, 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 108 batters, tied for 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 season
• Total on the year, the team averages 7.32 runs per game, the 10th-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 .398 (11th in the LSC), scoring 39 runs (17th in the LSC), stealing 13 bags (T-9th in the LSC) and walking 21 times (T-21st in the LSC). So far this year, she boasts a .477 on-base percentage (15th in the LSC)
• Another freshman OF, Kennia Chong, has been coming on strong through LSC play as well, and now leads the team in batting average at .407 (ninth in the LSC), and has hit 18 doubles, tied for the third-most in single season in program history
• Kingsville's offense has been cooking - as a squad, its .422 on-base percentage is the 19th-best in the nation. It also ranks fifth in the conference in walks, having drawn 167 on the season, and have stolen the sixth-most bases in the LSC (58)
• In conference play, the team's .330 batting average (3rd), .416 on-base percentage (5th), and .508 slugging percentage (3rd) are all top five in the LSC
• The longball has been there for Kingsville as well: the Javelinas rank fifth in the conference with 37 jacks on the season
• Defensively, the pitching staff allowed just 20 home runs this year, tied for the third-fewest in the LSC