May 12, 2016
SOFTBALL: MARSHALL, Texas (5/13/16) – Making their 10th appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament, and fourth straight, East Texas Baptist University has an exciting but tough road ahead of them starting in Tyler, Texas, on Friday. ETBU is a part of a four-team regional tournament played at Texas-Tyler and is the #3 seed.
The tournament opens up on Friday at 1:00 p.m. with ETBU taking on Texas Lutheran. Texas-Tyler hosts Agnes Scott at 3:30 p.m. The losers of game 1 and 2 will play at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The winners of game 1 and 2 will face each other at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Whomever loses the 11:00 a.m. game will face the winner of game 4 in an elimination game for the right to advance onto the championship game.
PREVIEW vs. Tournament Teams
TEXAS LUTHERAN
On Friday, ETBU will face #2 seed Texas Lutheran who is ranked #5 in the nation. These two teams have faced each other the past two years in Tyler as ETBU holds a 3-0 record in the tournament during that time. Last year, ETBU won, 5-1, as Texas Lutheran was ranked 14th in the nation. The first time they faced TLU in the tournament came in 2014 as they won the first game, 3-0, and then in the regional championship game took a 5-1 decision. Overall, ETBU is 14-5 vs. TLU and use to play them when they were members of the American Southwest Conference. The only time the two teams have played each other when they were nationally ranked came in 2013 in the ASC Tournament when #12 ETBU won over #20 TLU, 3-1. TLU hasn’t defeated ETBU since 2007 falling in their seven games.
TEXAS-TYLER
This series has a rich history as these two teams battle back and forth the past four years for the ASC Championship and then playing for the regional championship in two of the last three years. ETBU is 2-4 vs. UTT in the NCAA Tournament and lost to the Patriots twice last year in the regional championship game. These two teams have played 60 times since 2005 in their first meeting and are 28-32 vs. UTT. This year the series is even at 2-2 as UTT took the regular season series with two wins in Tyler, 6-1, and 8-2. ETBU then won the ASC Tournament with two wins over then #1 UTT, 6-1, and 2-0. The last 28 meetings all have been when both teams are nationally ranked with 15 games having both teams in the top 10. Of the 28 games played, UTT holds an 18-10 advantage over ETBU.
AGNES SCOTT
If ETBU has a chance to play Agnes Scott it will be the first time that these two teams have faced each other. Agnes Scott comes to Texas as the Great South Atlantic Conference champions with a 10-27 record.
ETBU in the NCAA Tournament
ETBU is 25-18 in the NCAA Tournament and went 2-2 last year in the Tyler Regional. ETBU opened with wins over Texas Lutheran and Texas-Tyler but then fell to the Patriots twice on the championship day. In 2014, ETBU went 6-3 winning the Tyler Regional and Marshall Super Regional before going 1-2 in the World Series. The 2013 Tyler Regional had six teams and ETBU went 3-2 falling to Texas-Tyler in the championship game, 7-6, in nine innings.
The best run in the NCAA Tournament came in 2010 when they reeled off eight straight post-season wins after falling to Southwestern in the winner’s bracket. The finished with four straight wins to win the regional in Louisiana and then won four straight in Wisconsin for ETBU’s first-ever national championship.
FOUR-YEAR PLAYER IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Kelly Jo McLendon will be making her fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday. She has won two ASC Tournament championships and won the Tyler Regional and Marshall Super Regional in 2014. She has pitched in six NCAA Tournament games and has a 1-3 record with a win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripts in the Super Regional in 2014. In 18.2 innings pitched in three years, her longest outing is six innings vs. Texas-Tyler in 2013.
SENIORS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
All four seniors, McLendon, Jessica Bowden, Alexis Padilla, and JJ Mitchell, have all played in the NCAA Tournament in their careers at ETBU. Bowden and Padilla have been a part of the last three and Mitchell the last two. ETBU is 11-7 in the last three years in the NCAA Tournament going 3-2 in 2013, 6-3 in 2014, and 2-2 in 2015.
COACHING IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Head Coach Janae Shirley has now taken ETBU to seven of the 10 NCAA Tournaments that they have played in. Her first appearance came in 2009 and she followed with appearances in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. She then coached ETBU to a national championship in 2010 and went back to the World Series in 2014 after winning the Marshall Super Regional. She is 22-12 in seven tournaments capturing two regional titles, one super regional title, and a national championship.
PLAYING IN TYLER
This is the fourth straight year that ETBU will play in Tyler for the NCAA Tournament. In their tournament appearances, including the 2014 World Series, they have a record of 9-6 on their field. They have also played the last three ASC Tournaments and some regular season games there. Since 2013, ETBU has played 35 games in Tyler the last four seasons and has an 18-17 record on their field. Their best season came in 2014 when they went 8-7 on the field. Last year they were 4-4 and this year they are 3-2.