DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State softball heads to Conroe, Texas, to take part in the 2025 Division II First Pitch Softball Invitational. The Savage Storm will play five games over three days from Friday, Jan. 31 through Sunday, Feb. 2.
SE opens play with two games on Jan. 31agaisnt St. Mary's at 11:00 a.m. and will face No. 1 UT Tyler later that day at 1:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Storm takes on Texas A&M- International at 1:30 p.m. and ends the day with St. Edwards at 6:30 p.m. The blue and gold wrap up the tournament on Sunday with No. 11 Anglo Sate at 12:30 p.m.
STORM WATCH
Southeastern was recently picked fifth in the 2025 GAC Preseason Poll by the league's coaches. The Storm are coming off a 26-28 season where they finished sixth in the conference standings with a 17-16 record. The Storm won six GAC series in 2024, including three conference sweeps over Henderson State, East Central and Northwestern Oklahoma State.
SE returns 12 players from last year's squad, and this season's team will feature 10 upperclassmen and 12 underclassmen, including six freshmen. Among the returns are All-GAC Honorable Mention pitcher
Emily Simmons and the team's leading hitter
Sage Harlow. Additionally, Southeastern brings back four players who made 30 or more appearances in 2024, with
Sabetha Sands seeing the most action with 36 starts in 38 appearances.
Among the nine newcomers are three transfer players with the additions of
Sheyenne Cheek,
Brinly Burke and
Bailey Kite. Cheek joins from Washburn, where she made three starts in the circle over 13 games and recorded 13 strikeouts in 19.0 innings for a 1.11 ERA. Also helping strengthen the bullpen is junior pitcher Kite, who made 25 starts at Grayson College last season and tallied 107 strikeouts in 92.2 innings of work.
The blue and gold will spend most of the 2025 season on the road, with no home games in January and just four home contests in February. Things begin to pick up for the Storm in March at home, as they will play eight straight home games to start the month and 11 total contests at the Southeastern Softball Complex. SE will close out April with two home series against Arkansas-Monticello and Ouachita Baptist.
PREVIEWING ST. MARY'S
The Rattlers were picked fifth in the Lone Star Preseason Poll after a 32-26 season in 2024 and would make their third straight NCAA Regionals. St. Mary's returns 14 players from a season ago, including a two-time Lone Stone All-Conference outfielder Lauren Gonzales. Senior pitcher Jadyn Abrego was also tabbed as one of the LSC's Pitchers to Watch in 2025.
PREVIEWING UT TYLER
The defending National Champions and preseason No. 1 team in the country, UT Tyler, topped the LSC Preseason Poll after a 58-8 campaign in 2024. The Patriots' senior utility player, JT Smith, was tabbed as the LSC Preseason Player of the Year. Smith held a .373 batting average with 52 RBIs, 21 stolen bases and 66 runs scored.
PREVIEWING TEXAS A&M-INTERNATIONAL
Texas A&M-International was tabbed 12
th in the LSC Preseason Poll, and the Dustdevils had Victoria Gonzalez named as a Pitcher to Watch along with Kyle Goad, who was named as an LSC Player to Watch. TAMIU compiled a 15-37 record in 2024 and finished LSC play 12-30.
PREVIEWING ST. EDWARDS
The Hilltoppers enter 2025 off the back of an 18-34 season, and they would finish 16-26 in Lone Star play. St. Edwards was recently picked 11
th in the LSC Preseason Poll and had shortstop Megan Morris and Pitcher Kylen Padgett selected as Players to Watch.
PREVIEWING ANGELO STATE
Angelo State checks in as the No. 11 team in the preseason rankings and is slated to finish third in the LSC Preseason Poll. In addition, the Rambelles' pitcher Cheyenne Floyd was named the LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year after helping lead Angelo State to a 37-19 overall record and a 28-14 league mark. Floyd is one of 12 returns from last year that made its 18
th NCAA Tournament.
