SAN ANTONIO – Vann Stuedeman, UTSA’s second-year head softball coach, sensed her team had something special about it when her student-athletes collectively decided to start preparations for the upcoming season ahead of time.
As an institution, UTSA doesn’t begin Spring semester classes – and therefore isn’t permitted by NCAA rules to begin official team practice – until the day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But the 2025 edition of the Roadrunners was so committed to preparing for this upcoming season, the team convened a week early to run their own practices.
“They united and came back to San Antonio a week before school started and practiced on their own,” Stuedeman said. “We’ve got a little bit of hunger, a little bit of fire in us. We’ve got about an even split of returners and new people. There’s a lot of excitement building around the new product of the ’25 season.”
UTSA commences its 2025 campaign this weekend, playing host to the UTSA Invitational at Roadrunner Field. Friday’s Opening Day features the Roadrunners facing Weber State at 3:30 p.m. and SIUE at 6 p.m.
With only 16 home dates on last year’s schedule, UTSA is delighted to more than double that number in 2025 with 33 games at Roadrunner Field, where the Roadrunners averaged an 87.42 percent stadium capacity in 2024.
For the second consecutive season, UTSA has sold out all 48 reserved chairback seats in the grandstand. Last year, the Roadrunners experienced a 131.8 percent year-over-year increase in season tickets sold. Totaling 4,196 fans over 16 home games last season, UTSA recorded its highest-ever attendance mark with fewer than 18 home games.
“Being home is one of our most favorite things to do,” Stuedeman said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve always said that the home-field advantage matters and the crowd matters. What they do, what they say, how invested they are – it really matters and I’m looking forward to that extra advantage.”
For the Roadrunners, who won 15 games last season – a seven-victory improvement from their previous campaign, to continue their strong trajectory, Stuedeman felt it was important to bring in student-athletes who know what it takes to win.
That starts with a pair of players who won the 2024 NJCAA National Championship at McLennan Community College – Katia Reyes and Madison Hornback. Reyes was the 2024 NJCAA DI Softball Player of the Year. McNeese transfer Crislyne Moreno joined the team after winning a Southland Conference Championship and playing in the NCAA Regionals.
“They expect to win, they know how hard it is to win and they know the work-ethic it requires to win,” Stuedeman said. “Yes, you must be able to play softball and you must have softball skills but, at the same time, you have to have a mental edge. That was something we were missing in the past. When you bring in a mix of kids who know what it takes and understand the mentality of expecting to win, you try to infiltrate the rest of the team with that.”
Stuedeman, who has long been known as one of the top pitching coaches in collegiate softball, has a new-look staff this season. It is equally as skilled as it is untested.
“We have six pitchers and they all bring something a little bit different to the table,” she said. “How can we set each pitcher up for success? I don’t think that we’ll see one pitcher out there all year. It’s not that they’re not talented; they’re inexperienced. You just don’t know how they’re going to react in the games. We have some really good tools. It’ll probably be one of my biggest coaching jobs with a pitching staff.”
While the Roadrunners still have unanswered questions entering the 2025 season, Stuedeman sees signs abound that her culture has been infused all throughout the team’s roster. She can see the program’s growth from a year ago and is highly encouraged by that.
“It’s totally different,” she said. “Going into this first weekend with the team, they’re a whole lot more confident. They’re a lot more team-focused – it’s us/we/ours and not we/my/mine. It’s been a big difference in approaching this first game. And, we’re at home, which is a lot of fun. We’re excited.”