Jags traveling to Schreiner, hosting St. Thomas (TX) in home opener this week

UHV softball coach Lindsey Ortiz saw her belief in her team realized over the weekend.

The Jaguars beat No. 23 William Carey, 2-1, and Cottey College, 8-7, at the LSU Alexandria tournament and had to take different routes to open the season unbeaten.

Claire Blinka's two-run home run in the sixth proved to be decisive against the Crusaders while four different players contributed RBIs and eight had hits in a back-and-forth win over the Comets.

"Mac (Christensen) and I, we've been able to see the potential we have from the fall and the early spring," Ortiz said. "We both felt this team is the caliber of team to compete with ranked teams. But I think it was important for our athletes to see that come to fruition and really realize what we're working with here."

Now UHV (2-0) will turn its attention to a 1 p.m. doubleheader at NCAA Division III Schreiner (0-2) on Wednesday in Kerrville before coming home for their home opener with St. Thomas (TX) (1-2) at 1 p.m. on Friday.

The Jaguars are 10-2 all-time against the Mountaineers from Schreiner after splitting a doubleheader last year in Victoria. UHV is 3-1 against the Celts and split last year's doubleheader in Houston.

"Now that we have some games under our belt, I want our team to expect to win," Ortiz said. "I want our team to show up expecting to execute on the field. It's still early and there's still I want to improve before we get to the thick of conference. These games are an opportunity to do that, to clean things up and push ourselves."

With the way the offense played through two games, Ortiz is confident heading into the non-conference tilts.

Blinka hit .500 with five RBIs in six at-bats while Kaylle Lopez hit .800 with a pair of RBIs in five at-bats. The team holds a .389 average with five players hitting .500 or better. Madysin Leighton, Kenzie Chambers and Eryn Sanchez join Blinka and Lopez on that list.

"In the Cottey game, we showed we have the ability to score throughout the game," Ortiz said. "I think that's huge, especially coming up on conference play because we are going to see different looks, incredible pitching and we're going to see some of those high-scoring games. So, I think having that versatility is huge."

Senior pitcher Cameron Cowan delivered on the opening weekend, picking up two wins after allowing only two runs over 9.1 innings of work.

The Shiner native put together the 37^th complete game of her career to earn the win against William Carey before coming on for 2.1 innings in relief of Eryn Sanchez against Cottey.

It was Sanchez's first appearance since 2022, when she played for LSU Alexandria.

"I think it was great for us to get Eryn back out there and get her feet back under her," Ortiz said. "She has high expectations for herself and I expect her to continue to get better as the year goes on.

"Ultimately, we went back to Cameron and her experience to close out the (Cottey) game. But I'm looking forward to using more of a full staff approach in these next couple of doubleheaders and getting some of these younger kids the experience so we can rely on any of them as we get into our conference games."