TXST SOFTBALL
In their final season in the Sun Belt Conference, Texas State will look to bring home another conference championship before leaving for the Pac-12.
Entering her 25th season leading the program, Head Coach Ricci Woodard knows that San Marcos and coaching softball is the place she wants to be.
“When I look back, it’s hard for me to believe I’ve been here that long, first of all,” Woodard said. ”But when I get to run into alumni, I think that’s when I really know that this was the place for me and this is what I was meant to do. So it’s probably more the impact that I’d like to have on young ladies’ worlds, if that’s the right way to say that. But just watching them be able to handle the adversity of real life tells me again why I’m doing this.”
The Bobcats enter the 2026 season as the defending regular season champions of the Sun Belt and will look to be the favorites once more, returning more than half of their starting roster.
For Woodard the key difference between last year’s team and this year’s team is — despite having the same players — the level of maturity the players experienced last season.
“It is a team that figured out a little bit at the end of the year of how we need to do things to be successful,” Woodard said. “The maturity of it has carried over to this year’s group. In my opinion, just watching them and the maturity of the growth from last year’s group to this year’s group with almost the exact same team has really been fun to coach.”
In the circle, the Bobcats return both starting pitchers in junior Madison Azua and senior Emma Strood, along with senior closer Analisa Soliz. Azua finished the 2025 season with a 20-8 overall record along with striking out 187 batters. Strood finished last year with a 12-8 overall record, striking out 106 batters.
Along with the addition of star freshman Kaili Witherell, who was named New York Gatorade Player of the Year, the Bobcats will have more depth than in seasons past.
“It’s six deep for a lot of different reasons,” Woodard said. “Analisa Soliz is going to carry some of those innings for us that she’s been able to do in the past. She’s in a better spot and healthier this year. When you add those two freshmen to the group that we already had returning, Abigail Jennings getting more innings this year for us, we’re going to be able to do some mixing and matching with the pitching staff that we haven’t been able to do in the past.”
Coming into this season, Woodard stressed to her pitchers of their ability to work around the strike zone.
“I want them to attack the zone as much as possible, but also to understand that they don’t necessarily have to throw a strike to get an out,” Woodard said. “They are good enough to work around the zone and let hitters get themselves out.
The Bobcat offense also returns the majority of the batters including senior Aiyana Coleman who smashed numerous records for Texas State last season en route to being named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
Coleman set a new program record for most home runs in a single season (17), most RBIs in a single season (55) and highest slugging percentage in a single season (.893).
As the group enters the 2026 season, Woodard believes the group is capable of being more consistent than last season while also carrying more strength at the plate.
“We’re going to have a little bit more power,” Woodard said. “I think we’ll do a better job of just being consistent hitters at the plate this year. Again that maturity is going to show at the plate probably more than it’s going to show anywhere else for us.”
Texas State’s non-conference schedule will be loaded, with the Bobcats playing 10 Power Schools, including hosting the defending national champions, the University of Texas, on March 25 along with three home tournaments.
With the non-conference schedule, Woodard believes her group can handle the rigors of playing in a tough slate needed to both compete in conference and qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
“This year’s team should be able to handle it,” Woodard said. “I feel like we have all the pieces, we should have some power, we have some speed and we have pitching. We should be able to handle the best in the country so that at the end of the year, we’re still competing against the best in the country.”
Being one of the top programs in the conference, Woodard doesn’t expect anything to change once the Bobcats hit Sun Belt play despite the fact Texas State is in their final year.
“I don’t know that it changes a whole lot for us,” Woodard said. “I feel like the target’s always on our back and people always bring their best against us. Some of that’s because we facilitate a really good image of a softball program. We have good facilities and we have a great place to go to school so I think that it already puts the target on our back just because we’ve done a good job of building our program here. But it’ll be interesting to see if there is a little bit of that extra punch that we’re going to have to punch back at.”
Texas State opens the season at the Kajikawa Classic in Arizona against Toledo next Thursday.
The Bobcats first home game will be at the States Up Invitational where Texas State will host Clemson Thursday Feb. 12 at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
Senior Aiyana Coleman looks to lead the offense after smashing several Bobcat softball records last season. Coleman was named 2026 Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo
