Just as the men’s and women’s basketball season is winding down, here comes the busiest time of the year for Schreiner University’s NCAA Division III athletic programs — all starting this week.
This week, while Schreiner’s basketball and wrestling seasons are still ongoing, the Mountaineers will roll out men’s and women’s tennis and softball will play their first matches and games. The baseball program starts next week and coming in March is the track and field season.
By the end of the month, Schreiner will host as many as four sporting events in a single day. Welcome to spring.
First off, the basketball programs are making their march toward the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournaments Feb. 25-26 in Sherman, Texas. Both teams have five games remaining on their schedules before the SCAC tournament.
The men are still in the hunt for a conference regular-season title — or at least a share of it — but everything has to fall into place for the Mountaineers. Schreiner plays host to Centenary on Friday, which the Mountainers beat on Sunday. Austin College comes to town on Saturday — another team, the Mountaineers, beat last week. The women lost against Austin and beat Centenary.
Schreiner’s men are at .500 for the first time since 2019 and are looking for their first conference title since 2018 — the year they beat Centenary in the SCAC title game. Schreiner has won eight of its last 10 games.
The women, who have just three returning players from last year’s team, continue to make solid improvements and are a longshot for the conference title but could get hot in the tournament.
Softball makes its debut on Saturday by hosting McMurry. The game also marks the debut of new coach Melissa Hansen, who comes to Schreiner after a successful high school career that saw her lead teams to a pair of University Interscholastic League state championships.
Hansen takes over a red-hot team at the end of 2021 by winning 13 of its last 15 games. The Mountaineers finished 20-21 overall and fell 2-1 in extra innings in the second round of the SCAC tournament to Centenary.
Just some of Schreiner’s top softball returners are:
- Hannah Kollmansberger, a junior catcher who was the dominant offensive player for the Mountaineers, hit .424 with three home runs and 28 RBIs.
- Bri Wodtke, a senior starting pitcher who led the Mountaineers with a 9-7 record and a 1.76 ERA. Wodtke is coming off back-to-back seasons where she had an ERA below 2.0.
- Kaylee Culpepper, a senior starting pitcher with a 2.64 ERA and a 7-5 win-loss record.
- Daniela Pedraza had a freshman season in the outfield and hit .357 and 18 RBI.
- Carrie Fulton, a senior outfield, who hit .327 with a home run and 12 RBI.
- Marley Carrizales, a sophomore infielder, had a stellar freshman season by hitting .392 with 10 RBI.
- Kennedy Moody, a senior infielder, who hit .308 and drove in 10 runs.
- Taci Tatum, a junior infielder, who has a career .355 average for the Mountaineers.
Schreiner’s tennis teams start the season on the road before returning home on Feb. 25. Junior Victoria Morales will lead the women. Junior Carson Kirk is among the top returners for the men.
This week’s Schreiner University home sports offerings:
Friday
- 5:30 p.m. men’s basketball vs. Centenary
- 7:30 p.m. women’s basketball vs. Centenary
Saturday
- Noon softball vs. McMurry
- 2 p.m. softball vs. McMurry
- 4 p.m. men’s basketball vs. Austin College
- 6 p.m. women’s basketball vs. Austin College.
