SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State will head on the road for its first road trip of the season. The Bobcats will open its 2023 road slate at the Owl Classic where they will face Winthrop, FAU, Penn State and Illinois.
 
Texas State will open the tournament on March 2 at 11 am versus Winthrop.
 
Texas State, which is coming off a 38-win campaign and narrowly missing an NCAA Regional as an at-large bid, was picked second in the Sun Belt coaches preseason poll. The Bobcats have finished in the conference's top three in the standings for three straight years, but the league has grown this year with three new teams: James Madison, Marshall and Southern Miss.
 
This is road trip one of two before the Bobcats start conference play at Troy on March 17th. Prior to the start of conference play the Bobcats will also take part in the Bevo Classic, hosted by Texas, and a pair of games with Texas Tech on March 14^th.
 
Texas State goes into the Owl Classic with winning records against three of the four teams, and seeing a new opponent in the fourth team, Winthrop. Winthrop comes into the tournament with a 10-3 record with losses to Harvard, Nevada and Queens.
 
FAU will host the tournament and comes into the Classic with a 9-6 record after being picked 5th in the C-USA Preseason Polls.
 
Additionally, the Bobcats will face Illinois State who are 3-11 so far on the season and Penn who is 0-5 on the year.
 
Weekend Matchups
2023 Owl Tournament
FAU Softball Stadium | Boca Raton, FL
 
Thursday, Mar 2
vs Winthrop – 11 am (CT)
at FAU – 1:30 pm (CT)
 
Friday, Mar 3
vs Penn – 8 am (CT)
vs Illinois State – 1 pm (CT)
 
Saturday, Mar 4
vs Winthrop – 8 am
 
GAME NOTES

• Texas State returns 12 players (11 letterwinners) from last year's team, including former All-Sun Belt players Jessica Mullins (pitcher), Sara Vanderford (third base), Ciara Trahan (outfield) and Hannah Earls (shortstop).
  • The Bobcats also return position players Claire Ginder, who played in all but one game last year, Anna Jones (52 games) and Piper Randolph (43 games).
  • Offensively, the Bobcats return 61 percent of their RBI from last year (146 out of 238). 
  • In the circle, the Bobcats return Mullins, Karsen Pierce (26 appearances, 13 starts), Presley Glende (17 appearances, 3 starts) and Tori McCann (7 appearances, 2 starts).
  • Texas State returns 98 percent of its innings pitched from last season.
• Head coach Ricci Woodard will enter her 23rd season at the helm of Texas State softball.
  • A coach with 12 conference championships and 9 NCAA Regional appearances, Woodard enters the season with 762 career wins.
  • Woodard is 28th among active Division I coaches in career wins.
  • She has a shot this season to join the group of 26 active Division I head coaches with 800 career wins.
  • Among the top-30 NCAA Division I head coaches in terms of career wins, Woodard is one of only 13 coaches to accumulate their wins at one school. Others: Patty Gasso (Oklahoma), Jana McGinnis (Jacksonville State), Holly Hesse (Missouri State), Fran Troyan (Lehigh), Mary Ellen-Hall (Houston Christian), Jane Worthington (Eastern Kentucky), Deanna Gumpf (Notre Dame), Patti Gerckens (UC San Diego), Brian Kolze (Pacific), Chris Cannata (Albany), Gordon Eakin (BYU) and Lisa Costello (Towson). 
• Only entering her junior year, pitcher Jessica Mullins has entered Texas State's all-time top-10 in several career categories.
  • Mullins ranks:
    • 4th in career ERA (1.75)
    • 6th in career wins (53)
    • 5th in career strikeouts (461)
    • 8th in career appearances (95)
    • 10th in innings pitched (447.0)
• In addition to Mullins, third baseman Sara Vanderford is also climbing the Texas State career lists.
  • The senior is 2nd in career batting average (.329), tied for 5th in career doubles (41), tied for 6th in career home runs (23), and tied for 6th in career RBI (108).
  • Vanderford is within striking distance of the 5th place owner on the RBI list, Leah Boatright who had 118 RBI.
  • Vanderford also needs one home run to match Hailey MacKay (2018-21) and Leah Boatright (2007-10) for 4thth on the all-time career home runs list.
• Hannah Earls has also made her way into the record book with 46 stolen bases, good for 7^th on the all-time list.
• Texas State has won 3 straight season openers entering 2023 and 4 of its last 5 (dating back to 2018).
  • This is the first year Texas State has opened a season at home since 2021.
  • In 2021, Texas State was slated to start its season in Arlington, Texas, but after the games were canceled, they opened the season at home on Monday, Feb. 22 and beat Abilene Christian in both games of a doubleheader.
• Texas State played all of its home games in February and maintained a winning record in the opening month for the 3rd straight year.
  • Texas State is 23-13 in February over the last 3 seasons.
    • 2023: 12-4
    • 2022: 6-5
    • 2021: 6-2
    • 2020: 11-6

 
LAST TIME THEY MET
Winthrop
First Meeting
 
FAU
All-time series: Texas State leads 1-0
Last meeting: Feb. 23, 2018 (W, 9-4)

Penn
All-time series: Texas State leads 1-0
Last meeting: March 5, 2016 (W, 9-1, 5 inn.)
 
Illinois State
All-time series: Texas State leads, 4-2
Last meeting: Feb. 16, 2018 (W, 2-1)