TXST SOFTBALL
Texas State will look to defend their Sun Belt title from last season despite returning five starters from last year’s team.
With a mixture of returning starters, a few Power Five transfers and a group of young freshman and sophomore players, Head Coach Ricci Woodard is excited for the season.
“It’s been fun just because it’s been such a different experience for me that I haven’t had for quite a while,” Woodard said. “Kind of starting from the ground up and building this team to what we hope they’re going to be in May has been … a different experience from what the last two years [have] been.”
Returning for the Bobcats is sophomore pitcher Madison Azua, who was recently named Sun Belt Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and senior outfielder Ciara Trahan, who was named to the Preseason All-Conference Team.
Despite having a new roster, Azua is still confident about the team.
“For most of us being pretty new, I think we look great,” Azua said. “It’s not easy to almost start from scratch, but we have a lot of the new people here who have gotten a hold of things pretty easily. We gel together pretty well, so we look good.”
With having new teammates, Trahan and the Bobcats are focused on continuing to improve their game with full trust in the coaching staff.
“Just with the whole new team, we do have a lot of new faces,” Trahan said. “[We’re] just coming in and continuing to work hard. We have the best coaches out here; that’s helping us get better every single day. We are young, but I think this team is gonna be really good.”
Because many on the roster have limited playing time, Woodard has shifted the focus on taking practice one day at a time while having the team playing their best come May.
“Even our junior class doesn’t have a lot of game experience,” Woodard said. “From the kids we brought in as transfers to the kids that we have returning, this whole year is going to be just about gaining experience and being our best in May. That’s how we’ve approached it. Practice one day at a time, play one day at a time and try to be our best in May.”
The Bobcat infield will have a completely new look with four freshmen and two transfers on the roster.
Despite their youth, Woodard is excited about the group, particularly with their ability to be at any position on the infield.
“I like them because they’re athletic enough to play anywhere,” Woodard said. “The three kids that we’re gonna use between short second and third can play all three positions for us.
So it’s kind of just a mixture of who’s gonna give us the best on that day and what positions are gonna work against the team we’re playing to be honest.”
In addition to Azua, the Bobcats bring back senior Presley Glende and junior Analisa Soliz to the pitching rotation along with LSU transfer Emma Stroud.
While the pitching staff is not set in stone, the pitchers have an understanding of what their season is going to look like.
“We don’t really probably know yet what our rotation is gonna be necessarily, but they understand that we’re gonna pitch a little bit more by committee,” Woodard said. “They’re going to have each other’s backs. They are having to come in and pitch three or four innings, one day pitch two innings or one day pitch one inning.
“We’re going to have to pitch a little bit more to my committee, and I think everybody knows that. I like the way we’re hitting our spots, and that’s gonna be the key to our success.”
Having to fill the shoes of the graduated Jessicia Mullins, Azua is confident in the circle.
“I don’t really see any differently,” Azua said. “I’m still gonna do what I can on the mound and rely on my team to have my back too. It’s not just a one person game.
It’s everybody and the nine people that are on that field. They have my back, and I have theirs.”
On the pitching staff, Azua is confident in the rotation and their potential for this season.
“We look great,” Azua said. “Seeing what I’ve seen in scrimmages and even from some of the fall, we look good, so I’m not worried about it.”
A strength for the Bobcats this offseason has been the offense. Along with Trahan, Texas State added junior Texas A&M transfer Keely Williams to the lineup along with junior Aiyana Coleman.
With a mixture of both power and speed, Woodard hopes to take advantage of the offense during the early part of the season.
“I’ve been pretty proud of the offense,” Woodard said. “We have a mixture of power and speed. It’s just going to be our approach from day to day and getting the experience of game day approaches. As far as just being athletic and being able to do some different things at the plate, I think we have a really good mixture.”
Trahan, who has a career batting average of .310 along with 64 RBIs, is also excited about the Bobcat offense and their potential.
“Offensively we are 100% better than we are defensively,” Trahan said. “That’s what I would say. We have a lot of hot bats in this lineup this year.”
Trahan started the first half of the Bobcat’s last season before a serious knee injury forced the senior to miss the last half for the 2024 season.
After rehabbing to get back into the lineup for this year, Trahan is focused on closing out her senior season on a strong note along with a new perspective.
“The whole season that I was out last year, after I got hurt, it really opened my perspective and … [caused me to see] the game differ- ently,” Trahan said. “I’ve just been grinding way harder than needed to get back and healthy. This year since I’ve been at practice, I’ve just been working hard, being really locked in and focused. It’s my last year, so I’m gonna play with everything I have.”
While the Bobcat roster is new, the expectations for the team have not changed.
Texas State was picked as the favorite to win the Sun Belt title over Louisiana in the preseason coaches poll.
With three NCAA tournament appearances in the last four years along with a conference championship, keeping up the championship standard will be the goal for this season.
“Our program is about standards,” Woodard said. “It’s not about wins and losses, it’s about standards. This team has been asked to uphold the standards just like every other team has, even though they don’t have the same experience level. But the standard is the standard, so they understand what it’s supposed to look like day in and day out. That’s all we can ask of them.”
Despite the high standards of the program, Azua is confident that this year’s team will be able to meet them.
“Just having high expectations for ourselves, [we know] what we’re capable of,” Azua said. “Even though this team is new, seeing what we have done in the past should drive us to want to do more than what we’ve already done.”
Texas State starts the 2025 season at home against the No. 13 Arkansas Razorbacks. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
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