A&M-Victoria softball welcomes Jarvis Christian for final regular season series

The Texas A&M University-Victoria softball team is looking to close the regular season on the right foot this weekend.

The Jaguars (24-15, 15-9) are coming off a series win on the road at Louisiana Christian last weekend. Now, they turn their attention to Jarvis Christian for a three-game series at the Victoria Youth Sports Complex this Friday and Saturday.

Friday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. and is Mentor Day, where the Jaguars recognize students in the team's mentor program at Hopkins Elementary School with a pregame ceremony. The series wraps up at 12 p.m. on Saturday.

A&M-Victoria is looking to build momentum and secure the best possible seed for next week's Red River Athletic Conference Tournament. The Jaguars enter the weekend in fourth place, a half-game ahead of A&M-San Antonio.

Heavy hitters

The Jaguars picked up the series win last week behind strong offensive performances from Deeandra Maldonado, Kitty Coe, Alyssa Carter, Angelina Morales, Madison Carr and Fayth Hoover.

Coe led the way with five hits, going .455 at the plate last week. Maldonado and Carr each drove in a pair of runs to help the Jaguars to two wins. Maldonado also hit .500 in the series.

Carter had four hits in the series, as well. She leads the team in batting average (.408) and hits with 42.

Morales and Hoover each had three hits last weekend.

Offensive performances like that are part of why the Jaguars are hitting .322 as a team this season.

Pitching ready to close strong

A&M-Victoria's pitching staff put together a solid week in the circle at Louisiana Christian.

Madelyn Butler and Haley Noska picked up the winning decisions last week.

Butler threw her fifth complete game of the season, allowing just one run to improve to 5-2. The freshman from Leander boasts a team-leading 3.32 ERA.

Noska's win was her fourth this season after tossing 5.1 innings and allowing two runs in Game 3.

Freshman Kailea Freeman earned her x save after tossing 1.2 hitless innings of relief behind Noska. In total, the Palacios native worked four innings last week and allowed just one run on three hits.

The Jaguars boast a 3.71 team ERA thanks to last weekend's performances.

Scouting the Bulldogs

Jarvis Christian comes in with a 1-25 record overall and a 1-23 mark in RRAC play.

A&M-Victoria owns a 33-3 edge in the all-time series with the Bulldogs after sweeping last year's doubleheader in Victoria.

Follow along

All three games will be live streamed on the A&M-Victoria Athletics YouTube channel. Live stats will also be available on the A&M-Victoria Athletics website.