BELTON — There has been good reason for optimism around the UMHB Softball program throughout the preseason and into the early days of the regular season schedule.
Eileigh Whyte and Chloee Miller, The Cru’s top two pitchers in 2024, are both back. Leadoff hitter Lindsey Polleschultz, whose .431 batting average led the team a season ago, is returning for a fourth year as the starting shortstop. Bailey Frenzel, who hit a team-best five homers as a junior transfer last spring, is looking to build on last year’s campaign. Add in Bryton Wright, who had 20 RBIs last season, starting second baseman Madeline Stephenson, starting center fielder Taylor Henken, and starting catcher Tori Skinner, and UMHB’s lineup holds notable similarity to its 2024 team.
The experience on the roster is clearly one of UMHB’s biggest strengths, and last Friday’s performance in Houston was evidence of that.
In an anticipated season opener at St. Thomas (TX), the No. 4 pick in the SCAC preseason poll, UMHB swept the doubleheader by scores of 6-4 and 2-1, giving the program its first 2-0 start in the last five seasons.
“We have 11 seniors on our team,” UMHB head coach Melissa Mojica noted, adding that several are third-year seniors. “Having Tori back behind the plate, Lindsey leading off, and Bryton, Bailey, and Madeline, and the two senior pitchers—that’s been huge. They’re motivated too. It’s their last season and they’re working hard and giving everything they have.”
The senior leadership that Mojica referenced showed up front and center in the twinbill. In Game 1, it was Skinner’s 4-for-4 performance with 4 RBIs that headlined a stretch of six unanswered runs between the fourth and sixth innings after falling into a 4-0 hole. In Game 2, Whyte held UST to a single run, Polleschultz stole two bases, and Skinner homered, completing the sweep.
“In Game 1, when we got down 4-0 in one inning, the girls stayed controlled and came out and put up four runs the very next inning,” Mojica noted. “Once we got that out of the way, then we all relaxed and just played ball. It helped to get that goose egg off the board.
“St. Thomas has good pitching, and they have athletic kids that can run well, and who put the ball in play. Last year, they shut us out in our opening game, so we worked a lot on live hitting the past two weeks. By the end of the week, our pitchers were getting killed by our hitters. I was really excited to see that translate to [Friday].”
It certainly did. UMHB’s 16 hits in the season opener were the most in a single game since a 23-hit performance against Sul Ross State on April 28, 2023. Over the course of the doubleheader as a whole, The Cru put up 21 total hits, six doubles, eight RBIs, and hit .350 as a team, quite the contrast from last season’s 3-0 loss to the Celts in which UMHB never advanced a runner past second base.
Skinner, who went 1-for-3 in last year’s meeting with UST, had an explosive day at the plate, leading the charge from an offensive perspective. The senior catcher delivered a bases-clearing double in The Cru’s four-run fourth inning in Game 1, and scored the tying run on Bryton Wright’s RBI single. Two innings later, it was Skinner again, as she doubled with Lindsey Polleschultz and Shorey Nguyen on second and third, breaking the 4-4 tie for the eventual 6-4 win. Her solo home run in Game 2 provided a key insurance run for UMHB, and was the lone homer for either team in the doubleheader.
“She and Coach [Leah] Guest have worked a lot on hitting, and the biggest thing she did this year is take a different approach in the box, knowing counts and what her strengths are,” Mojica said of Skinner’s 5-for-6 performance in the doubleheader. “That helped a lot and that’s what she did on Friday. Obviously she saw the positive outcome of the game plan that Coach Guest set for her and I hope she sticks to that.”
Skinner wasn’t the only Crusader with significant power behind her bat on Friday. Frenzel nearly had a homer of her own in the sixth inning of Game 1, if not for a stellar catch by left fielder Rebecca Archibald over the outfield wall, which turned into a double play. Wright went 2-for-4 in UMHB’s 6-4 win, and Mojica expects both Wright and Frenzel, along with Skinner, to be amongst The Cru’s most reliable power hitters moving forwards.
From a pitching standpoint, Game 1 provided the chance to see both freshman Alli Dafoe and sophomore Ella Gamblin in the circle. A native of Granbury, Texas, Dafoe posted two solid innings, with just one hit in her first six batters faced, before struggling in UST’s four-run third. But in her first collegiate start, it proved beneficial to get Dafoe experience against a deep lineup, as she looks to contribute more throughout the season. Gamblin then put up five scoreless innings to close the victory in the longest outing of her UMHB career, earning the win.
“I have total confidence in Alli and our other freshman Beth Ann [Johnston],” Mojica said. “Those two have a really bright future at UMHB. Alli made some freshman mistakes, but she’s going to get better every outing and she’s going to continue to get opportunities on the mound for us. She’s pretty strong mentally, and she’s consistent.”
Whyte, who tossed 13 complete games for UMHB in 2024, added another in Game 2, going 7.0 innings. UST wasn’t able to do much by way of hitting, with three of the Celts’ eight hits coming by way of bunts, and the lone run scored in the sixth inning on Ana Zazoya’s RBI single.
“She reminded us on Friday why she was our No. 1 last year,” Mojica said. “She’ll just get stronger as the season goes on. And we still have Chloee [Miller] and some other pitchers that will be successful.”
UMHB carries the momentum from Friday’s sweep into Wednesday night’s 6:30 p.m. home opener against Southwestern. The Pirates come to Belton seeking their first win after an 0-4 start, having been swept in doubleheaders at both defending national champ ETBU and LeTourneau last weekend. UMHB has won its last three meetings with Southwestern, including four of the last five in Belton.
Kaydence Garza leads Southwestern at the plate, having gone 5-for-8 over the first four games. Infielder Riley Glenn-Millhouse is another key piece of the lineup, having led the Pirates in batting average last season (.400) in 34 starts. In the circle, Madison Vela and Sophia Ytuarte each started two games in Southwestern’s East Texas trip, and expect to see one of them get the start in Belton on Wednesday night.
Of note, tonight’s matchup with the Pirates and next Tuesday’s game at Southwestern are the lone instances of non-doubleheaders on UMHB’s schedule. Due to the changing of the ASC scheduling format, the need for more non-conference games than in past seasons, and limited non-conference openings in local non-conference opponents’ schedules, Mojica did what she could to create a strong schedule. At this point, it seems that task was accomplished.
In addition to facing No. 1 ETBU twice in conference play—they play in Marshall on March 22 and in Belton on April 26—The Cru gets No. 5 Belhaven on Feb. 21 in Jackson, Mississippi, No. 14 Texas Lutheran at home on April 8, and No. 16 Rochester in San Antonio on March 14.
“We had to find a lot more non-conference games this season and that was a little bit of a struggle, fitting everybody in. The SCAC starts conference play this weekend, so they couldn’t really play anymore weekends. It was a lot of strategic planning for us, but we have some great non-conference teams that we’ll see.”
