Cowgirls Softball Has a Long Road Trip

Las Vegas, New Mexico - The Cowgirls Softball team has a long road trip ahead as they head to Oklahoma for the OC/UCo Festival on Friday and Saturday, and then they turn around and head to Tyler, Texas, for the UT Tyler Classic. 

 

COACH PUGH: For Coach Kali Pugh in her New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls career, she collected her first career win on January 31 202,6 against Sul Ross State in a run-rule victory in Los Lunas, New Mexico. New Mexico Highlands University named Kali Pugh the new coach of the Cowgirls' softball program on May 28, 2025. Pugh comes to NMHU from Arizona's Yavapai College, where she led the Roughriders to the 2025 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference playoffs for the first time since 2022. Pugh has eight years of experience coaching at the junior college level, including five years at her alma mater, 

 

Last Season: The Cowgirls were 15-38 overall and 9-35 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last year.

 

RMAC Poll:  New Mexico Highlands was selected to finish ninth in the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Softball Coaches' Poll. 

 

2026 Roster: The New Mexico Highlands roster features eight returning players from last year's squad. Including players who saw time over the years, such as Jazmyn Greigo, Shaylene Saladin, and Annika Ruiz.

 

The Cowgirls added 16 new players to this year's team.

Roster Breakdown:

By Class :          

Freshman 6    

Sophomore 10  

Junior 6            

Senior 2     

         

 By State 

Arizona 9          

New Mexico 5

Texas 4

Utah 3

California 2

Oregon 1

 

Weekend Schedule:

 

Friday

Oklahoma Baptist 12:45 PM (Edmond, Oklahoma)

#25 Oklahoma Christian 3:30 PM (Edmond, Oklahoma)

 

Saturday

Cameron University 10:00 AM (Edmond, Oklahoma)

#11 Central Oklahoma 4:45 PM (Edmond, Oklahoma)

 

Sunday

Hillsdale College 11:30 AM (Tyler, Texas)

 

Monday

UT Tyler 10:00 AM (Tyler, Texas)

Ut Tyler 12:15 Pm (Tyler, Texas)

 

*Times are Mountain Time

Location in ()

 

Scouting The Opposition: 

 

Oklahoma Baptist:

The long road trip kicks off with the Oklahoma Baptist Bison comes in at 5-0 on the weekend following the Lonestar invite. Jace Brewer was hired in June of 2021 as an assistant softball coach in the Bison softball program before being appointed as the Head Coach on June 5, 2024. In 2000, Brewer was drafted out of  Baylor University in the 5th round of the MLB Draft. Brewer spent eight years as a professional baseball player in the Tampa Bay Rays (5), Texas Rangers (2), and Kansas City Royals organizations.

 

Oklahoma Christian: 

On Saturday, the Cowgirls will face a red-hot Oklahoma Christian University team. The Eagles are 4-0 going into the weekend. As they swept the number two team in the country, Tampa University in Tampa. Shalee Rodriguez joined Oklahoma Christian's coaching staff as an assistant coach on July 13, 2018, after two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Southern Nazarene, and was named as the Eagles' third head coach on June 11, 2021. Rodriguez completed her fourth season at the helm of the OC program following the 2025 spring season. Rodriguez has a 150-76 all-time record and a 107-51 conference record. 

 

Cameron:

The Aggies of Cameron University is who the Cowgirls will face to start on Saturday. The Aggies enter the weekend at 1-3 overall on the season thus far. Bryan Howard began his first season as head coach at Cameron University in July 2024. He comes to Cameron after a historical run at Missouri S&T, winning the first conference championship in any female sport in school history. As the Miners' captain, he finished off the season by beating the #1-ranked team in the country for the GLVC Conference Title.

Central Oklahoma:

The Bronchos enter the weekend at 4-2 and will face two separate teams before seeing the Cowgirls Saturday evening. Sam Maples was named the head coach of the program in June of 2025. She arrived at Central Oklahoma after a mountain of success at Oklahoma Baptist, where she led them to the national tournament for the first time in the Division II ranks. She played college softball at Florida Atlantic and began her coaching career as an assistant at Colorado Christian.

 

Hillsdale College:

The Cowgirls will travel to Tyler, Texas, for their final two games of the weekend. On Sunday, they will take on the Hillsdale College Chargers from Hillsdale, Michigan, and the Great Midwest Conference. This weekend marks the start of the season for the Chargers and Kyle Gross, the winningest softball coach at Hillsdale with 199 career wins and counting.

During his time at Hillsdale, Gross has helped the Chargers become a powerhouse in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and a contender in the Midwest Region, with three G-MAC Tournament Championships, a G-MAC regular-season title, and four NCAA Tournament appearances.

 

UT Tyler:

To wrap up the long road trip of the weekend, the Cowgirls will have a double header against the defending national champions in the UT Tyler Patriots, who have started off the season at 3-3. Jason Miller is serving as the interim head coach for the 2026 season after former head coach Mike Reed transitioned into a full-time administrative role this year.

 

Follow The Cowgirls: All games are available via live Flo College to watch and Live Stats on the links below 

 

UCO/OC HOMEPAGE

 

UT Tyler Classic Homepage

Up Next: The Cowgirls will open conference play with Colorado Christian on February 20th in Lakewood.