Kingsville - In the midst of an 11-game tear, the Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team returns home to take on St. Edward's (Friday, 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.) and St. Mary's (Sunday, 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.).

The team has been red-hot as of late, and holds the longest active win streak in the LSC. It currently sits in fifth place in an LSC that has grown quite tight at the top (one game out of third place, two out of second place). 

The most recent stop on Kingsville's winning streak was the longest road trip of its season, as it travelled to both Western New Mexico and Sul Ross St. last week, sweeping both of them. Among a number of stellar performances for TAMUK was freshman INF Isabella Hernandez's return to Kingsville's lineup (5-of-8, five RBIs, three extra-base hits) after missing six weeks due to injury and freshman OF Kennia Chong's big weekend (7-of-12, six RBIs, four extra-base hits). 

Perhaps the best performance of them all, however, was freshman INF Ella Srubar, who filled in at 3B during the SRS DH, playing errorless defense and going 4-of-5 with three HRs and six RBI. That excellent play earned her the LSC's Freshman of the Week award, making her the first Javelina in program history to bring home the award.

Scouting the Competition: The St. Edward's Hilltoppers (10-27, 7-19 LSC)

The Hilltoppers began conference play well, winning three of their first four contests, including a split with their travel partner, St. Mary's. The team struggled from there, however, losing seven of its next nine, with a 12-game losing streak following not long after. Most recently, however, the team picked up a sweep of UT-Dallas in which it scored 12 total runs, and will look to bring momentum from those games into Kingsville.

Despite its record, SEU has posted solid pitching performances throughout its season. It's two go-two starting pitchers, junior Haley Carmona and senior Kylen Padgett, each hold ERAs that sit at 4.00 or lower and opposing batting averages of .294 or lower. The two have combined to strike out 103 batters this season.

Kingsville has dominated the all-time head-to-head series, holding a 10-3 record in its matchups with SEU. Recently, however, the series has been much more even, with the two squads splitting the last six matchups, including a pair of extra-inning thrillers in Austin last year. 

Scouting the Competition: The St. Mary's Rattlers (22-17, 14-12 LSC)

The Rattlers have had an up-and-down start to their LSC schedule. After a strong start, they suffered seven straight losses, running into red-hot Lone Star opponents West Texas A&M, Texas Woman's, and UT-Tyler. They have since responded, however, and have gone 4-2, including a win over No.12 Oklahoma Christian, in their six most recent games entering the weekend.

Four different Rattler hitters bring a batting average of at least .330 into the weekend, led by junior INF Gabriela Banda, who leads the team in batting average (.356), RBIs (33), and SLG (.584). Defensively, senior RHP Ariella Saenz has been one of the conference's best this season. She boasts a 3.31 ERA with a 1.32 WHIP. Her most recent appearance was an 8.0 IP, one-run start against UT-Dallas last weekend in which she struck out three Comet batters.

STM has held the upper hand in its 10 most recent matchups with the Javelinas, winning seven of those 10. Kingsville, who split last year's doubleheader with a pair of games in San Antonio decided by one run a-piece, will look to restart the tear it was on through the early 2020s, in which it won 11 of 13 contests.

Javelina Quick Hitters:

• Head Coach Orlando Salinas, who is in his third full season as Kingsville's skipper, is on the verge of history, sitting at 99 wins as the Javelinas' Head Coach
• Freshman INF Ella Srubar enters the weekend coming off of a career game 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 94 batters, the sixth-most in the LSC
• Two weeks ago, 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 a pair of LSC Pitcher of the Week awards for those performances, the first and second of her career
• Two weeks ago, 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 of their season, dropping 30 total runs across a pair of road LSC wins over UT-Dallas (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 7.21 runs per game, the 13th-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
• While they're on another one right now, the Javelinas went on a tear early in the year, winning nine straight games, including the first four LSC games of their season - the streak is their longest since 2022
• 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 .418 (5th in the LSC), scoring 35 runs (T-10th in the LSC), stealing 11 bags (9th in the LSC) and walking 20 times (17th 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 18th-best in the nation. It also ranks third in the conference in walks, having drawn 153 on the season, and are tied for fifth in stolen bases (54)
• In conference play, the team's .329 batting average, .423 on-base percentage, and .481 slugging percentage are all third in the LSC
• The longball has been there for Kingsville as well: the Javelinas rank eighth in the conference with 22 jacks on the season
• Defensively, the pitching staff allowed just 12 home runs this year, the second-fewest in the LSC