Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College softball team will travel to San Antonio, T.X. to play in the UT San Antonio Birds Up Bash Tournament against Houston, host UTSA, and Boise State from Friday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, Mar. 2. The roadtrip marks their third of the season after the squad traveled to both Wilmington, N.C. and Rock Hill, S.C. earlier this month.
This weekend's matchups will mark the first meeting between the Dolphins and all three of their opponents in program history.
Game #1: Le Moyne (2-8) vs. Houston (10-4) - Big 12
Info: Friday, Feb. 28 | 10:30 a.m. | San Antonio, T.X. | Roadrunner Softball Field
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=582029
The University of Houston comes into the weekend tournament with a 10-4 record after hosting the Easton Classic on back-to-back weekends Feb. 7-9 and Feb. 14-16 to kick off the 2025 season. The Cougars went 8-2 with wins coming over St. John's, New Mexico, ULM, and Incarnate Word and splits to Pitt and Nevada.
Houston then went 1-1 at the Cowgirl Classic in Lake Charles, La. on Friday, Feb. 21, winning against Kansas City and losing to McNeese, before taking down Louisiana at the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational last Saturday, Feb. 22 and Tarleton State at home on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Offensively, freshman infielder Brooke Wells leads the way with a .395/.525/.744 slash line along with 17 hits, four home runs, 18 RBI and 12 runs scored in the team's 14 games. Fellow freshman infielder Maddie Hartley is right behind Wells with a 1.244 OPS on 16 hits, four homers, 18 RBI and 17 runs scored this season.
In the circle, sophomore Gigi Solis heads the rotation with a 2-1 record in six appearances this season, putting up a 3.20 ERA while allowing nine runs on 19 hits and eight walks in 19.2 innings pitched.
Last season, Houston went 25-30 overall and 4-23 in conference play, eventually falling to Kansas, 6-5, in the first round of the Big 12 postseason tournament.
Game #2: Le Moyne (2-8) vs. UTSA (9-4) - American Athletic
Info: Friday, Feb. 28 | 6:00 p.m. | San Antonio, T.X. | Roadrunner Softball Field
Video: ESPN+ (https://tinyurl.com/LeMoynevsUTSA)
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=583842
UTSA currently sits with a 9-4 record after hosting two early season invitationals and traveling to another in Hammond, La. so far this season. The RoadRunners hosted the UTSA Invitational on Opening Weekend (Feb. 7-9) and went 5-0 against Weber State, SIUE, and UMass Lowell before heading east to the Lion Classic and going 2-3 with a victory over Mississippi Valley State, split against South Dakota, and two losses to host Southeastern Louisiana.
The team then hosted the RoadRunner Classic last weekend and earned victories over Michigan State, 7-4, and St. Thomas (MN), 3-2, before getting shutout by Sam Houston, 5-0, to close the tournament. Most recently, UTSA fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7-2, on the road on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
The RoadRunners' offensive leaders are spread throughout the lineup as freshman utility player Sabrina Wick leads with a .370 average and 17 hits, senior utility player Jaylen Prichard is atop the leaderboard in on-base percentage (.444) with 13 hits and five walks, and senior utility player Crislyne Moreno has a team-high .459 slugging percentage with two home runs and one triple.
Junior Kaita Reyes and sophomore Meredith Schmitt have been UTSA's most effective pitchers this season with Reyes hurling 21.1 innings including one complete game to the tune of a 2-1 record and 1.64 ERA, and Schmitt posting a 2.76 ERA with a 3-1 record in 25.1 innings over eight appearances in 13 team games.
UTSA went 15-42 overall with a 5-22 conference record in 2024, falling to Wichita State, 13-0, in five innings in round one of the American Athletic Conference Championships.
Game #3: Le Moyne (2-8) vs. Boise State (12-3) - Mountain West
Info: Saturday, Mar. 1 | 10:30 a.m. | San Antonio, T.X. | Roadrunner Softball Field
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=582031
Boise State has gone 12-3 this season, including an active streak of seven straight wins dating back nearly two weeks to Friday, Feb. 14. The Broncos opened the season with a 3-2 showing at the NorCal Kickoff in Sacramento, Calif. on Opening Weekend, taking down Saint Mary's twice, and UC Davis while stumbling against Sacramento State and Utah Valley.
The Broncos then traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to take part in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, also going 3-2 with wins coming against North Dakota State and BYU, a two-game split with Florida International, and a loss to Indiana.
Most recently, Boise State produced a clean five-game sweep at the Lyman Classic in St. George, U.T., downing San Diego twice, and Utah Tech, UC San Diego, and Weber State once apiece with three of those games concluding early due to the run rule.
Sophomore outfielder Sophia Knight leads the Broncos with a staggering .617 batting average through 15 games, going 37-60 with four doubles, one triple, eight RBI and two walks while senior outfielder Mykenzie Hanna has recorded a team-leading 1.465 OPS with 21 RBI on 17 hits including five home runs this season.
Sophomore Abby Dowell (2.90 ERA) and senior Brook Thompson (3.34 ERA) have been a strong 1-2 punch for Boise State, combining for a 9-1 record and two saves while allowing 26 runs on 56 hits in 58.1 innings pitched.
The squad went 36-23 overall and 13-9 in conference play last season, before finishing runner-up at the 2024 Mountain West Championships to San Diego State.
Games #4 & #5:
Scheduling for Le Moyne's fourth and fifth games of the tournament will depend on results of the first six games as the 'Phins will either play at 3:30 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 1 based on seeding and in the Tournament Consolation at 10:30 a.m. or Tournament Championship at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 2.
Follow updates to the schedule as they are announced, here.
Dolphins' Season:
Le Moyne has gone 2-8 so far this season after taking part in five-game sets at both UNCW and Winthrop in recent weeks. The team kicked off the year going 0-5 on Opening Weekend, falling to Syracuse and host UNCW twice, as well as Queens University of Charlotte from Friday-Sunday, Feb. 7-9.
Most recently, the team went 2-3 in the Winthrop Garnet & Gold Tournament last weekend, earning their first two victories of the year on Saturday, Feb. 22 against Brown and Youngstown State.
Two-run homers off the bats of freshman infielder Cianna Benamati (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and senior outfielder Alyssa Dybacz (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) led the charge in the Dolphins' 6-3 victory over the Bears, with senior shortstop Dominique Rinaldi (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) and sophomore outfielder Sydney Nesci (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) both contributing with RBI hits of their own late in the game.
Pitching in the game, freshman Isabella Kwashek (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) tossed 4.0 innings of shutout ball in the start, allowing just two hits and striking out one while freshman Nevaeh Ross (Friendship, N.Y./Friendship) threw 3.0 innings in relief, surrendering three runs on three hits and one hit batter while striking out three.
The Dolphins then rode rallies in the first and second innings to down Youngstown State, 13-8, later in the day. Dybacz went 3-4 with 3 RBI, two runs scored, and one walk while junior infielder Audrey Benderski (Spring Lake Park, Minn./Spring Lake Park) went 2-4 with three RBI and two runs scored, as well. Six different Dolphins registered at least one hit and four recorded at least one RBI against the Penguins. Ross earned the win in the game, hurling 6.1 shutout innings, allowing nine hits and one walk while striking out two.
Dybacz went on to be named an NEC Prime Performer for her performance over the weekend, as she registered a .429 average with one homer, three doubles, and two walks while driving in five RBI and scoring another five runs over five games.
Benamati and Dybacz lead Le Moyne with OPS numbers north of .960 while Benamati has recorded a .667 slugging percentage with two home runs, two doubles, and three RBI in her first nine collegiate games played. Junior infielder Avery Linn (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) has tallied a team-high .333 batting average while scoring three runs in seven games played this season.
On the pitching side, Ross has worked to a 3.59 ERA, allowing 19 runs (13 earned) on 33 hits and 10 walks while striking out 13 and recording both one complete game and save in 25.1 innings.
What's Next:
Le Moyne will head to Emmitsburg, Md. to play in five games against Mount St. Mary's and Morgan State from Friday-Sunday, Mar. 7-9 in their final early season matchups before conference play begins on Saturday, Mar. 15.
