SAN ANTONIO—The No. 9 seeded UTSA softball team is set to open postseason play on Wednesday, with a matchup against No. 8 seeded Tulsa kick-starting the 2025 American Athletic Conference Softball Championship at 9 a.m. CT at the USF Softball Stadium.
The Roadrunners (21-33, 6-21 The American) enter the event holding the most wins in a single season since 2019, and a 16-15 home record marks the last time the ‘Runners finished with a winning record at home since that campaign.
Sophomore Kalee Rochinski has been a standout performer for the squad, wrapping up the regular season ranked sixth in the NCAA with 20 base runners caught stealing. She is also fourth nationally with 17 hit by pitches, helping her obtain a team-high .436 on base percentage. Freshman Sabrina Wick has been solid in her inaugural collegiate campaign, working a .305 batting average, and junior Katia Reyes has launched seven home runs with 28 RBIs. Additionally, freshman Ava Eldridge has been heavily featured in the circle, with 90.0 innings pitched and an 8-9 record.
The Golden Hurricane (20-32, 8-19 The American) fell to the Roadrunners in the regular season, as UTSA picked up its lone series victory. UTSA bookended wins over a three-game series, with senior Crislyne Moreno launching a home run and providing an extra-innings walk-off double to secure a 4-3 victory in game one, scoring Wick to cement the win in the eighth inning. Eldridge tossed all eight innings for the win in game one, and after UTSA fell 2-1 in game two, she twirled a complete-game shutout without allowing a hit until the sixth, for a 5-0 Senior Day victory that helped her to a conference Pitcher of the Week award. Moreno and classmate Lindsey Davis each posted homers in the finale, while Reyes also had one leave the yard.
Tulsa’s Maci Cole and Celeste Wood each cracked an all-conference team, with Cole making the first team as a shortstop and Wood on the second team playing first base. Cole led the team in batting, hitting .322 AVG, while Wood topped the team with 31 RBIs and blasted six home runs.
Should the ‘Runners advance, they’ll take on No. 5 seeded Wichita State (28-24-1, 15-11-1 The American) in the Second Round on at 3 p.m. Riley Nihart recently nabbed Co-Freshman of the Year after logging a 3.08 ERA over 97.2 innings for a 10-4 record. Lauren Lucas was also a first-team selection for the third time in her career and paced the squad with a .386 batting average.
Keep up with UTSA Softball all season long on goutsa.com, and by following the program on Facebook at /UTSASB, X (Twitter) @UTSASoftball, and on Instagram @utsasoftball.
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