Photo of Jordan Iverson courtesy of UMHB Sports Information
MARSHALL, Texas — In a sport with a 40-game regular season, it is incredibly rare to go seven days without playing a game, much less 12. But that is the situation UMHB Softball has found itself in over the last two weeks, its regular season slate entirely wrapped up, and a weekend of anticipation at the ASC Tournament waiting ahead.
The gap between regular season and postseason is uniquely long this spring, much different timing compared to the 2025 conference tournament, which saw UMHB go just five days between its finale against LeTourneau and its ASC Tournament opener against Hardin-Simmons.
But it all works to their advantage, head coach Melissa Mojica said Wednesday. With academic finals behind them—and roughly a week-and-a-half of practice time to get ready—the focus now turns entirely to softball, and the “survive and advance” mindset that could carry her team back into the NCAA Tournament, should they come up with a few timely wins on ETBU’s Taylor FIeld.
“I think it turned out really well for the girls, because they were able to focus on finals, and get those taken and out of the way,” Mojica noted. “Now here we are in the conference tournament and they’re done, with only softball to focus on. Our practices the past three days have been really good. It’s been a good break for us, and it’s been positive for us.”
While the timing of the tournament comes a week later this season compared to last, some things remain the same for The Cru. For the third year in a row, the tournament will be hosted in Marshall, and for the second-straight year, Hardin-Simmons is UMHB’s opening-round opponent. The Cru and Cowgirls face off Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT.
But a good percentage of this year’s team doesn’t know any different when it comes to past history in the all-important conference tournament. A young squad, three of UMHB’s top four hitters in batting average are true freshmen. In the circle, Chloe Booth—whose 2.61 ERA leads the team—is a transfer, and Katherine Neal—who has allowed just two earned runs over her last 14.0 innings—is a freshman.
The new faces took time to settle in early in the season, and UMHB was challenged out of the gate in a difficult non-conference schedule featuring the likes of Texas Lutheran, Huntingdon, and St. Olaf. But as time has gone along, the Crusaders have built both their cohesion and confidence, turning the corner to win nine of their last 14 in the second half of the regular season.
The team stepping onto the field on Thursday is a much different one than the squad that began the season, even as the players in the lineup have remained largely the same. But Mojica also recognizes that the ASC Tournament brings with it a different feeling and atmosphere, and that’s where having established upperclassmen on the roster also comes into play.
“We talked yesterday about what the conference tournament means, what it’s like when we go,” Mojica said. “The upperclassmen did a good job of talking to them about, ‘Hey, it’s a different season. Nothing [from the regular season] matters. We just have to play well this weekend and we’ll be successful.’
“We talked about how every team plays their best, and every game is going to come down to that seventh inning. We just have to stay focused and continue to push through.”
Some of UMHB’s biggest contributions this season have come from newcomers. Ava Perlinger, a native of Round Rock, Texas, is hitting .471 against ASC opponents this season, the fifth-best average in the conference. Addy Todd and Macy Alewine lead the team in home runs, with five and four, respectively. Neal, who is 5-3 in 14 appearances in the circle, has the most strikeouts (34) of the six pitchers Mojica has used this season.
But it hasn’t only been the freshmen making strides as this season continues to unfold. Senior Jordan Iverson is one of the best examples of that, a versatile infielder from Kingwood, Texas, who has been an everyday player for The Cru after hitting .250 in 20 starts in 2025. Iverson has enjoyed a breakout year at the plate, hitting .321 in addition to her team-leading 10 doubles.
“She’s been hitting the ball well,” Mojica said of Iverson, whose four doubles in ASC play lead the league. “I’m excited to see what kind of weekend she has. She’s had phenomenal practices.”
To get past HSU and into a Friday winner’s bracket game, UMHB will need that sort of consistency at the plate from Iverson and others. This is a team that has been best when it strings together several hits in an inning, allowing their speed on the basepaths to help manufacture runs. It’s worth noting, however, that the Crusaders are also tied for the ASC lead in homers (16), giving them an ideal balance between using their power and also maintaining a high contact rate that produces singles and doubles.
A prime example of that came in a key doubleheader against Concordia at the end of March, as the Tornados—who became a 30-win team this season—came to Belton on a six-game win streak. UMHB had just one extra-base hit in Game 1, and instead used an RBI single and capitalized on two errors en route to a 4-3 win. Game 2 featured a pair of homers, one of four multi-homer games for The Cru this spring, and a total of four extra-base hits in a 12-3 victory.
That doubleheader sparked the surge down the stretch from UMHB, who followed that sweep with another one in Belton over No. 10 St. Thomas. A few days after beating the Celts twice, the Crusaders won three straight in a four-game series against HSU in Belton. In many ways, that stretch of wins helped raise UMHB’s upward trajectory even more, showing what the Crusaders were capable of after battling through a five-game losing skid prior to playing Concordia.
“I do think it was a very impactful point in our season and it meant something,” Mojica noted. “We still talk about it, like, ‘Hey, we can do these things and compete.’ That was huge in our season and that’s the expectation in playing in this conference tournament. We’re going to be playing high-level teams, so we have to play at a high-level and be consistent. All four teams this weekend will compete well. It’s just going to be who can hold it together the longest.”
The Cru’s focus is solely on HSU, the ASC’s second-place squad who went 20-10 in the regular season. While the Cowgirls are just 1-3 against UMHB, they carry confidence to Marshall, having become only the fourth team to beat No. 6 ETBU this season when they took down the Tigers, 1-0, on April 24. Hitting .385 as a team, HSU leads the ASC in both batting average and slugging percentage (.508).
UMHB’s pitching managed to shut down the Cowgirls in three of the four games played in Belton a month ago, but the conference tournament is a different environment. Neutral field. One game. They have confidence thanks to past success against HSU, but Mojica reiterated that her team will need to come ready.
“I feel pretty good going into tomorrow,” Mojica said Wednesday. “Hardin-Simmons is a great team. They did beat ETBU that last weekend [of the regular season]. But if we play good defense, and pitch the ball well, and hit, we have a really good chance of getting to that championship game on Saturday.”
Thursday’s ASC Tournament contest will be streamed live on goetbutigers.com. Live stats can be found here.
