Softball's Changeover

The regular season has concluded for the UT Arlington softball team and for the first time in six years, UTA will have a winning record. At 24-21, regardless of the results in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference tournament, the Mavericks are guaranteed to have more wins than losses. A late 3-8 stretch last year put the UTA one game below .500.

This year came on the strength of a 12-6 conference mark. With a .667 winning percentage, that is the best conference mark since the COVID year's 2-1 mark. The last in a full season was a 20-10 mark in 2011 during the Southland Conference era. In the Sun Belt, there weren't many winning conference seasons, but 2019's 17-10 mark was the high-water mark. It's the first winning WAC season in five tries, including the lone year in 2013.

The results came on the backs of a relentless offense. UTA hit 59 home runs this year, a program best. In the WAC, second-place Tarleton State hit 42 for comparison. What's impressive, is UTA's 45 games played is last in the WAC. The range is a high of 55 by TSU and California Baptist (the top two teams in the WAC standings) to a low of 47 by sixth-place Southern Utah. Keep that in mind for the following stats.

In addition to being first in home runs, UTA sits second in runs with 304, second in RBI with 268, second in slugging percentage at .519, third in hit by pitches at 35 and third in on base percentage at .390. Had they played the same number of games as TSU and CBU, many of those stat categories see UTA at the top. Also note, these numbers were gathered with one game left for every other team in the conference and are subject to change.

With such a dominant performance, of course there will be some players atop the conference.

Junior catcher Mia McNulty is tied for the lead with 13 home runs. Junior shortstop Peyton Holland is tied at fourth with 11 and senior first baseman Dee McClarity is tied ninth with eight. Freshman outfielder Kaylee Schweitzer and freshman infielder Valeria Feeney are tied for third in triples as they have hit three each. Holland is seventh in runs scored with 40. When it comes to RBI, three Mavs are in the top 10: McNulty is sixth with 40 while Holland and senior utility player Marley Neises are tied at seventh with 36. Holland's .702 slugging percentage is good for third in the WAC as teammate McNulty is right her at .687 and McClarity is ninth at .643.

That is seven Mavericks that make the top ten in some offensive category. Another way to put it, that is balance.

That helps as the pitching and defense are not as prolific. Sophomore righty Madi McDonnell leads the team in ERA, wins, innings pitched and fewest walks. The ERA is good for seventh in the WAC, wins are good for fourth (thank you offense), as are innings pitched.

As a team, UTA is fifth in ERA, given up the third most runs and hits while walking the second most batters.

Defensively, UTA is second in errors at 56, only two ahead of the worst team in the WAC, are tied for fifth in fielding percentage and, in a twist, turned the most double plays at 25. In a positive, teams don't try to steal bases on the Mavericks. Teams were successful 17 of 30 tries, best in the WAC. CBU had fewer attempts, but that is largely due to their pitchers not letting runners on, as they have two of the three best ERA's in the WAC.

UTA had a great run in the WAC. The Mavericks swept Utah Tech and Southern Utah while winning their series' against Abilene Christian, and Tarleton State. I suspect the series loss to Utah Valley sticks in the Mavs crawl, but it was on the road. Perhaps more importantly, UTA was not swept at any point this year. UTA did not record a conference sweep last year. It is the first multi-sweep conference slate since three SBC sweeps in 2022.

As far as the RPI rankings go, there isn't much separation. CBU is 94th, Tarleton is 116 and UTA is third in the conference at 149th. Utah Valley (153) and Southern Utah (169) are the two remaining WAC schools in the top 200. Utah Tech (232) and Abilene Christian (247) round out the remaining WAC teams.

That sets up the WAC tourney, which begins on Wednesday. With CBU and TSU splitting their series this week, UTA is guaranteed a third-place WAC finish and seed this week. The top two get a bye and while that isn't a bad thig, it isn't the advantage it is in baseball. Pitchers can go every day. UTA will already have a week's rest as well. 

UTA beat every team at least once, so they have a chance. They'll either face UT or ACU. Both are tied for sixth and both split their games yesterday. Whoever wins today gets the sixth seed and a game against the Mavs. Unlike past years, the first round is not a single-elimination round. I always hated that format. 

The old adage that pitching wins big games probably mutes their chances, but no one in the circle wants to see UTA. If they can get a steady pitching performance, and the offense consistently stays at a high level, the Mavs have a good chance to end the Athletic Departments longest NCAA Tournament drought amongst all of its teams.