BELTON — Coming into Saturday, just two teams had come away with a win over defending national champ East Texas Baptist in 2025: Case Western Reserve and Virginia Wesleyan. Both were ranked in the nation’s Top 10 at the time of those wins over the top-ranked Tigers.
But playing in front of their home crowd for the final time in the regular season and on a day honoring alum Emily Bounds and her fight against cancer, UMHB joined that elite company on Saturday afternoon. The Cru played inspired softball in a seven-inning thriller, taking a monumental 5-4 victory in front of a near-capacity crowd at Dee Dillon Field.
It is believed to be the first win over the country’s No. 1-ranked team in program history, and marked the Crusaders’ first victory over ETBU—who has been ranked as the unanimous No. 1 in the NFCA Top 25 for nine straight weeks—since 2023, the same year UMHB advanced to an NCAA Regional Final.
The victory was exactly what UMHB came into the weekend seeking, as The Cru significantly improved its NCAA Tournament resume, beating a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time this spring. UMHB, who entered the week ranked No. 43 in the NCAA Power Index—the ranking system used to determine the 21 at-large bids for the NCAA D3 Tournament—is expected to see a notable jump in its national standing when the NCAA’s NPI update is released Monday.
The Cru, under fifth-year head coach Melissa Mojica, are now 24-12 overall and 8-6 in the ASC following Saturday’s doubleheader split against the Tigers. ETBU is 33-3 with an 11-1 record in conference play heading into next week’s series against Hardin-Simmons.
While UMHB had just one extra-base hit in Game 1—a fifth-inning double off the bat of junior Bryton Wright—to ETBU’s three, and eight total hits to the Tigers’ nine, UMHB capitalized when opportunities were presented. And there was no better offensive opportunity than the one that came in the fifth inning, with the score knotted in a 1-1 tie.
Gabriela Vela’s leadoff single was followed by consecutive groundouts, but those proved to be productive, moving Vela to third and 60 feet away from taking back the lead. Bralyn Belk, who was 2-for-2 in the contest, did just that in the next at-bat, sparking a two-out rally that flipped the momentum at Dee Dillon Field.
Starting with Belk’s RBI single to right field, UMHB passed the bat down, putting together four consecutive hits, three of which produced runs. Bailey Frenzel singled to put runners on the corners, setting up an RBI base hit to left field from Tori Skinner. Then came the double from Wright, and heads-up baserunner allowed both Sydney Bearden and Skinner to cross the plate on the play, cashing in on The Cru’s lone extra-base hit.
But true to its top-ranked form, ETBU refused to let UMHB get comfortable with its 5-1 lead. The Tigers rallied in a three-run sixth and sliced the deficit to one. But they never got any closer, in large part a credit to the poise of senior pitcher Eileigh Whyte. Whyte (12-5) tossed her 10th complete game of the season, and scattered nine hits across seven innings against a potent ETBU lineup that came into the doubleheader hitting .350 as a team.
A single from Izabella Morales was all the Tigers managed in the final frame, with Whyte retiring two of ETBU’s top three hitters—Tristen Maddox and Emma Bell—on flyouts. Skinner put the exclamation point on the win, throwing out Morales on a steal attempt of second base for the game’s final out.
UMHB found similar success in the early innings of the day’s second game, going up 4-1 in their first trip to the plate, thanks to back-to-back homers from Skinner and Wright. Together, the duo went 4-for-7, accounted for three homers, and drove in all six of The Cru’s runs with 3 RBIs apiece.
But unfortunately for The Cru, ETBU’s bats were just as hot as the Tigers fought against suffering a doubleheader sweep. The experienced lineup from Marshall put up 13 hits and six unanswered runs over the final four innings, completely changing the game’s outlook in the sixth, when Ava Rodriguez swatted a grand slam over the outfield wall. The grand slam followed a double, single, and hit-by-pitch, taking ETBU from a 6-5 deficit to a 9-6 lead. That’s the way the scoreboard stayed until the final out, as the Tigers moved to 6-2 on the road this season.
Notes from Dee Dillon Field
- Tori Skinner went 2-for-3 in both ends of the twinbill, extending her multi-hit streak to three games. The senior catcher also went 2-for-3 in the series finale against Howard Payne a week ago, and in that three-game span, has scored four runs and recorded five RBIs.
- Skinner now leads UMHB in batting average, hitting .380. She has also scored at least one run in five consecutive games.
- UMHB’s three home runs in Game 2—two from Bryton Wright and one from Skinner—were the most HRs in a single game for The Cru since hitting four against Howard Payne on April 10, 2021.
- Saturday marked Wright’s first multi-HR game of her college career, and raised her season total to five. The Melissa, Texas native has 12 HRs over three years with The Cru.
- The Crusaders pushed at least five runs across in both games, and have now scored 5+ runs in five of their last six contests.
- Skinner has now caught 12 runners stealing this season (11 vs D3 opponents), a mark that is tied for the ASC lead.
- UMHB is 17-2 in home games this spring, and has won 30 of its last 33 games played in Belton dating back to the 2024 season.
- With two games left in the regular season, UMHB is 8-6 in ASC play. The Cru is currently in-line for the No. 3 seed in the ASC Tournament.
Up Next
UMHB heads to Longview to close its regular season next Saturday, facing LeTourneau in a doubleheader. LETU is 13-25 overall and 4-10 in the ASC. The Cru swept LETU in a doubleheader in Belton on March 29.
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