ARLINGTON – Coming off a 2-4 week, the UT Arlington softball team will gear up for its very own Maverick Invitational beginning Friday, Feb. 16 through Monday, Feb. 19 as UTA will host Michigan State, Kansas City, DePaul and Boise State.

The four-day tournament is scheduled to commence on Feb. 16; however the Mavericks will not see the field until Saturday, Feb. 17 when the team will play two games starting with MSU at 2 p.m. followed by UMKC at 4:30 p.m.

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
TOURNAMENT: Maverick Invitational
OPPONENTS: Michigan State, Kansas City, DePaul, Boise State
WHEN: February 16-19
WHERE: Arlington, Texas | Allan Saxe Field
Game 1 vs. Michigan State, Feb. 17 @ 2:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 2 vs. Kansas City, Feb. 17 @ 4:30 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 3 vs. DePaul, Feb. 18 @ 12:30 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 4 vs. Boise State, Feb. 19 @ 3:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
 
UTA NOTES (2-4)

• The Mavericks are on 2-4 start to the season after tabbing a pair of wins against ULM (1-0) and Southern (14-8) in Southeastern Louisiana's Mardi Gras Mambo.
• Fifth year Lindsey Franklin and Marley Neises are responsible for UTA's three long balls so far with Franklin leading the pack with two.
• Freshman Emma Lopez is making a name for herself after finishing 7-16 (.438) at the plate. Lopez has started in all six games for the Mavs this season with a .625 slugging percentage after logging back-to-back multi-hit games against Nicholls (2-3) and Southern (3-4).
• First baseman Franklin holds the second-best batting average of the Mavs (.412), but a team-high OPS of 1.239. Franklin collected eight RBI over opening weekend across 17 at-bats.
• Three other Mavericks currently sit on a .300 average or higher: Neises (.350), Jessica Adams (.350) and Nikki Donahue (.308).
• In the circle, senior Gracie Bumpurs has thrown the most for Uta with 11 innings of work. Bumpurs leads with a 2.55 ERA, five strike outs and an opponent's batting average of .154.
• Adams has seen over 10 innings on the mound as she trails Bumpurs closely with a 2.71 ERA.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | MICHIGAN STATE (0-5)

• Michigan State opened its 2024 campaign at Florida Atlantic's Paradise Classic as the team finished 0-5. However, the Spartans held No. 12 Arkansas to a one-run game, falling to the Razorbacks 6-5.
• MSU has three players who are currently batting above .300: Jenae Wash (.333), Hannah Hawley (.333) and Jaeya Butter (.333).
• Sophomore Britain Beshears leads the Spartan lineup with four RBI with three of them coming from a three-run home run against Arkansas.
• The six-player pitching staff sit on a 5.50 ERA with senior right-handed pitcher Liv Grey holds the lowest ERA of 4.61. Grey has thrown 13.2 innings with 10 strike outs across three appearances.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | KANSAS CITY (0-6)

• The Roos of Kansas City competed in Hawaii's Paradise Classic and faced BYU, Nevada, Ole Miss and Hawaii as the team tabbed an 0-6 weekend.
• Junior outfielder Briona Woods paces UMKC's bats with a .417 batting average across five starts so far this season.
• Kansas City scored 11 runs over opening weekend with four players sitting on a team-high of two RBI.
• Camryn Stickel has spent the most time in the circle for the Roos with over 26 innings pitched. Stickel holds a low Era of 2.36 with 10 strike outs and three complete games.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | DEPAUL (0-5)

• Despite being 0-5 on the year so far, DePaul's Brooke Cwick (.389), Addison Talbot (.385) and Brooke Johnson (.333) lead with the top-3 highest batting average.
• Johnson also leads with four RBI, a .727 slugging percentage, two home runs and four runs scored.
• Graduate student Brenna Smith paces the Blue Demon pitching rotation with a 3.38 ERA as Bella Nigey and Katey Pierce lead with the most innings pitched (10).

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | BOISE STATE (4-1)

• The Broncos kicked off the 2024 season at Arizona State's Kajikawa Classic as the team picked up wins over Grand Canyon (3-1), ASU (6-4), St. Thomas (7-4) and No. 20 Northwestern (4-3). There, Boise State's only loss came from Wisconsin (9-0).
• Freshman Sophia Knight leads the Bronco offense with an impressive .625 batting average, finishing 12-19 over the weekend. Additionally, Knight holds a team-high .842 slugging percentage.
• Sophomore Hollie Farmer is approaching a .300 batting average as the utility sits on .294. Farmer holds the second-best number of RBI (3) and hits (5).
• On the mound, senior pitcher Taylor Caudill dominated over opening weekend after posting a 0.33 ERA. Caudill tossed 23 strike outs over the course of 21 innings while limiting opponents to a .103 batting average.

ON DECK
UTA will head to Fayetteville, Arkansas to compete in the Razorback Invitational beginning Friday, Feb. 23 through Sunday, Feb. 25 where the Mavs will face Illinois State, Wichita State and the host, No. 13 Arkansas.

FOLLOW THE MAVS
For the latest news on UTA Softball, log on to UTAMavs.com or stay connected to the Mavs on social media. Follow the Mavericks on Twitter @UTAMavsSB, on Instagram @UTAMavsSB and on Facebook at Facebook.com/UTAMavsSB.