Coyote softball seeking nationals bid

No stranger to facing nationally-ranked opponents and regularly still playing this time of year, the Weatherford College softball team will begin yet another postseason when it travels to No. 10 Odessa for the first round of the NJCAA Region V Tournament May 13-15.

The double-elimination tournaments are held at two sites - the No. 1 team from the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (Temple) and the top team from the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (Odessa). The top four teams in each conference qualified, with the winner of each tournament earning an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division I Championships May 25-30 in Oxford, Alabama.

Along with No. 23 WC (38-14, fourth in NTJCAC) vs. Odessa (48-7, first in WJCAC) contest out west, McLennan (42-12, No. 8 nationally, NTJCAC runner-up) will face Western Texas (32-22, third in the WJCAC). The north matchups will put Frank Phillips (23-33, No. 4 in WJCAC) against Temple (50-6, No. 4 in nation, NTJCAC champion), along with Grayson (45-10, No. 9 in nation, third in NTJCAC) vs. Midland (42-8, second in WJCAC).

"We have had a really good season," said WC head coach Haylee Williams. "We broke our team triples (24) and team home runs (69) records and beat a lot of ranked teams. We are young this year, so we built our confidence and identity throughout the season, clicking on all cylinders when it matters most."

The Coyotes have faced plenty of nationally-ranked competition this season. This includes wins against Grayson at home and at McLennan.

Among their wins this season, one of the best regular seasons in program history, they went 6-1 against teams from the WJCAC. They were 2-0 against Western Texas and split two games against Midland.

This will be their first meeting with Odessa since the Wranglers ended the Coyotes' 2025 season in the 2025 playoffs. They also have not played Frank Phillips this season.

The Coyotes are also adept at winning on the road, where they are 17-7 this year.

"You have to play a tough schedule in order to be ready for the tough competition in our conference and region," Williams said. "I think that benefits us because we know we can compete and beat anyone in the country."

The Coyotes are accomplishing their success this season with a roster that features 21 freshmen and a dozen sophomores. Their top two hitters are freshmen, Joni Jackson and Alex Graham.

"It has definitely been a process, a lot of teaching, and they have been such a fun group to coach and teach," Williams said. "They have great competitive spirit, tough, coachable, and really good team chemistry. They have achieved so much being in their first year, and so much more to achieve."

The Coyotes have five batters who are hitting above .300 (Jackson is hitting above .400 and Graham is just below), including sophomores Rian Coon and Karlie Landrum and freshmen Aofia Noa and Jackie Divine.

The bulk of the pitching duties have gone to returning sophomore All-American Sarah Hanf and freshman Kamryn Mears. Hanf also owns the only perfect game in WC softball history, thrown in her freshman season. 

Coyote pitchers have thrown a dozen shutouts this season. In all, they are 29-0 in games in which the opponent scored two runs or less.

Offensively, they are 13-0 when they score 10 or more runs.

Then, of course, there is the tradition of being a regular in the postseason, which the Coyotes have been with Williams at the helm since 2013 as she approaches 500 career wins (all at WC). Among their 12 playoff appearances was a still school-record 50-8 mark and an appearance in the NJCAA Softball World Series in 2013.

That tradition, Williams said, continues to play a major role in the program's success and recruiting.

"This is WC Softball, we win and we want to win big," she said. "We have been in these moments throughout the program's history and our kids know what to expect.  

"We want them to feel like it's just another softball game, we don't let the moment get too big - it's just softball, no matter the time of year."