Trinity softball is ready for the 2026 season after a two-game sweep against the Coastal Bend College Cougars on Feb. 7. Trinity won both preseason games, 7-2 and 8-0, and is set to start the season in a new conference as it moves from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and into the Southern Athletic Association (SAA).
The Tigers ended last season with a SCAC tournament elimination, losing to Centenary College in the second round. Per Trinity’s agreement to join the SAA, their chapter in the SCAC closed in fall 2025. Softball head coach Bailey Wittenauer said this is an opportunity for the Tigers to establish themselves as a dominant team in their new conference.
“Berry College is traditionally the number one seed in the SAA, which is standard for other sports,” Wittenauer said, referring to sports like football and their men’s soccer team winning the 2025 conference championship. “So, they are definitely going to be competition. I also think it’s pretty cool that Southwestern University came with us, another familiar school. But other than that, it’s completely new territory, but we’re definitely excited for the challenge and a new opportunity.”
To prepare for the season, Trinity played two scrimmage games. Senior pitcher Jordan Arce entered the circle as a relief pitcher in the first game and pitched 2 1/3 innings, giving up one hit, one run and walking five batters.
“I think just how the team has worked over the last few years and with all the incoming talent, it makes me happy that this is the group I get to go in with my senior year,” Arce said.
Senior outfielder and first baseman Carsyn Lee and junior infielder Samantha Tagawa led the Tigers in scoring in the first game. They each batted in two runs, accounting for four of the seven runs they scored in the bottom of the second inning. The Tigers blanked the Cougars in the second game. First-year pitcher Kate Bookidis and junior pitcher Megan Kriechbaum pitched for a combined shutout, stranding four Cougars on base through five innings.
Going into her third season as head coach, Wittenauer has accrued a coaching record of 63-25 since being promoted to the position in 2023. According to her, one of the team’s goals is to “level up” this season and bring home a championship.
“We want to be a team that’s a national contender,” Wittenauer said. “We want to be a team that is expected to go to the regional tournament. We want to win an SAA championship. These are all things that we have not done yet. So yes, our team has gotten better every year. We’re more competitive. We’re breaking records in the win category and statistically. So these are all positive things, but it’s really time for our program to be a championship caliber program. So the first step is winning that SAA championship.”
Six new first-years have joined the team. As a senior, Arce said that her role as an upperclassman is to ensure her new teammates are comfortable playing at their best.
“Just giving the freshmen opportunities to be confident in themselves and for them to see the potential that we see in them,” Arce said. “We want the underclassmen to be that long-lasting legacy so that when we’re gone, they can dominate on the field and raise good team culture.”
The Tigers will open the season at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California on Feb. 13. This meeting will be their first in nearly 20 years, when La Verne won 4-1.
