NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Heading to their third straight postseason tournament for the first time in program history, the UT Arlington softball team will compete in the NISC Stephen F. Austin Regional, opening up competition against host SFA at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

MATCHUP: UTA (30-26) vs Stephen F. Austin (35-21)
WHEN: Thursday, May 16 | 6 p.m.
WHERE: Nacogdoches, Texas | SFA Softball Field
WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS | BRACKET
 
MAVS IN THE NISC
UTA holds a  3-4 all-time record in the National Invitational Softball Championship. The Mavs are one of two teams to have made the NISC in all three years of its existence - Nevada being the other.
 
UTA breezed to an NISC Regional Championship a season ago, defeating Central Arkansas (9-1) and Texas Tech twice (9-4, 5-2) in Conway Arkansas. It marked the first Regional Championship in program history.

UTA NOTES
• Now sitting with 30 wins on the season, this marks the first time in program history that the Mavericks have gone three consecutive years reaching the 30 win mark.
• As a team, UTA is hitting .305 - the second best mark in program history. This team also has the second most runs scored (277) and RBI (239) in a single season.
• UTA has 462 hits as a team, shattering the previous record of 456 set in 2015.
• Laura has 79 hits this year, breaking the single-season hits record for UTA. She is currently 7th in the nation in hits.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
• The Mavericks lead the all-time series against the Lumberjacks 62-45. Their last meeting came in 2017 when UTA won 6-0 in Arlington. UTA is 2-2 against SFA in postseason play.
• SFA finished the season 35-21 overall and 18-9 in the Southland Conference. They were eliminated by McNeese in the Southland Conference Tournament, losing 0-3 in 11 innings.
• Margarita Corona leads the Lumberjacks in almost every offensive category. She is hitting .388 on the season with 64 hits, 12 home runs and 39 RBI.  She has a slugging percentage of .673.
• In the circle, Kassidy Wilbur is the go-to ace for SFA.  She has made 38 appearances (29 starts) and holds a 1.80 ERA, while allowing an opponent batting average of just .203.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | MCNEESE
• UTA holds a 45-43 series lead over the Cowgirls. The two teams haven't played since 2012, but McNeese has won four straight and seven of the last eight against the Mavs.
• The Cowgirls finished 30-30 overal and 19-8 in the Southland Conference. They fell to Nicholls in the semi-finals of the Southland Conference Tournament, 10-4.
• Justyce McClain will be a hard out, as the senior from Phoenix, Arizona is third in the country in hits with 81.  She currently bats .405 on the season and has started every game for the Cowgirls.
• McNeese has a team ERA of 2.55.  Alexsandra Flores leads the team with 22 starts, but Saleen Flores has a team-low 1.54 ERA with 11 starts on the season and a team-high 32 appearances.
 
KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | MIDDLE TENNESSEE
• The Blue Raiders and Mavericks have only met once before, coming in 2017 when UTA defeated MT 1-0 in Hammond, Louisiana.
• Middle Tennessee went 29-28 overall this season and 11-13 in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders won their first two games of the Conference USA Tournament, but were eliminated by North Texas, 4-2.
• MT has three batters hitting .300 or better – Summer Burgess (.342), Sydney Heath (.313) and Claire Smith (.300).  Lexi Cushing leads the Blue Raiders with 15 home runs on the season, while hitting .261.
• The Blue Raiders are led in the circle by Kailey Ahlstrom.  She has 22 starts on the year, tossing 12 complete games.  She is second on the team with a 2.99 ERA and 11 wins.

ON DECK
With a win over SFA, the Mavericks will advance to play the winner of Middle Tennessee and McNeese State at 3 p.m. on Friday.  With a loss, they will play the loser of Middle Tennessee and McNeese state at noon on Friday.

LAST TIME OUT | Softball Eliminated by ULM in SBC Tournament (May 10)
The Sun Belt Conference Tournament run came to an end on Friday night for the UT Arlington softball team (30-26), falling to the ULM Warhawks 5-2 in the elimination bracket.
 
The Mavericks finished with nine hits on the day, led by senior Laura Curry's 3-for-4 effort.  Aileen Garcia also had a multi-hit day, going 2-for-3 at the plate with one RBI.
 
"ULM played a great game and came fired up from the start," Head Coach Peejay Brun said. "Their pitcher did a fabulous job making sure we didn't tie too many hits together."
 
Three pitchers combined in the loss for the Mavericks.  JoJo Valencia started in the circle and allowed one run off three hits in one inning.  Randi Phillips replaced Valencia in the second inning, tossing 3.1 innings, while allowing three runs off three hits.  Allie Gardiner pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowing one run off one hit.
 
Monroe got the scoring going in the first inning, using a two-out rally to score.  Two singles put runners on second and third before another single found its way to left field to score the first run.
 
The Mavericks quickly responded in the top of the second. KJ Murphy led off with a double to the left field wall. On the next pitch, Shelbi Court single through the left side, driving in Murphy from second to tie the game at one.
 
The tie would only last an inning, however, as the Warhawks used a three-run third inning to take a lead they would not relinquish. Back-to-back singles to start the inning put runners on first and second before ULM connected on a three-run home run to take a 5-1 lead.
 
The Mavericks would manage just three baserunners over the next three innings as they tried to fight back into the game.  In the seventh inning, however, the Mavs appeared to be gaining momentum.
 
Following a pop up to second base, three straight Mavericks loaded the bases with just one out on the board.  Aileen Garcia connected on a single to third base, beating out the throw, to score one run and keep the bases loaded. That would be all UTA could muster in the end, leaving the bases loaded with back-to-back outs, falling 5-2.
 
"Our players did well this tournament and played with everything they had," said Brun.

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