Head Tarleton softball coach on mid-season record: ‘We have to get tougher’

BY JAXON HANSARD / Sports Editor 

Tarleton softball is currently having a less-than-ideal start to their 2024 season with a 15-23 overall record and three to eight in conference play. Injuries and a testing schedule are putting the Texans through an up-and-down course so far, but there are still plenty of games left in the season to get hot and hit a stride. 

During Texans softball's recent struggles, the players have looked towards Coach Cumpain for guidance to keep improving. Freshman infielder Makayla Cox credits Coach Cumpain for his toughness on them.

“Coach Cumpian is hard on us at times but it's only because he cares, in the close games and losses he tells us that we are so close to pulling it all together,” Cox said. 

The hot and cold nature of the 2024 softball team is shown in their streaky record where most of the results of games are in a win or loss streak, followed by a streak of the opposite outcome. The lack of experienced pitching has made it difficult to find consistency outside of the conference-leading defense.

“We have the number one defense and that’s been good for us, the negative side is that we're having to battle pitching because we have new pitchers,” Cumpain said. “We're trying to find their identity as well were trying to get them into a groove.”

Cumpian isn’t the person who has confidence in the team's conference-leading defense.

“I think our defense is our strongest component currently, I have seen so many plays that I didn’t think were possible to make,” Cox said. 

Between the number of games, travel and how softball is played in series, practices have to be lighter and more focused on the film of the opponent and light activity to stay warm and ready. The practice focus can change depending on the opponent and the team's play from the previous game.

“We play sometimes too many games, the problem we have is we don’t get enough practice some days because you have to keep practice light,” Cox said. 

Despite the defense having the best field percentage in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Cumpian suggests that the offense is the greatest strength for this year's team with multiple seniors in the batting lineup. 

“They’ve been there before and they’ve done it,” Cumpian said. “They have been to a post-season tournament in the last couple of years and have that experience and know what it takes so the offense is just the biggest key right now.” 

With such a veteran group, Cumpian is optimistic that the team cannot play so tight and ease out of some of the pitching struggles and get all cylinders to fire to end the season. 

“I think we have 21 games left and I like our chances of really getting on a roll and peaking at the right time,” Cumpian said. 

Cumpian’s lessons come across very clearly as he wants his players to learn from adversity and not crack.

“He actually gave us an analogy at practice yesterday where he gave us all a bouncy ball and he held an egg,” Cox said. “He threw the egg on the ground and it cracked, then he asked someone to bounce their bouncy ball. He said we can’t crack after adversity like the egg, we have to bounce back like the bouncy ball.”

Photo courtesy: Tarleton Athletics

Head softball coach Cumpian and Junior Infielder Tristyn Tull.