DALLAS – NM State’s Lauren Garcia, Liberty’s Paige Bachman and MTSU’s Jana Want earned the first Conference USA Softball weekly honors of the 2025 season.
 
Garcia garners Player of the Week honors, while Bachman is the Pitcher of the Week, and Want is the Freshman of the Week.
 
Player of the Week – Lauren Garcia, NM State – RS Sophomore – First Base – El Paso, Texas
Garcia dazzled in her Aggie debut as she posted a slash line of .600/.667/1.667 and helped the team to a 4-2 record in the opening weekend. In 15 at-bats, the New Mexico transfer racked up nine hits, including eight for extra bases. Garcia mashed four home runs and four doubles, resulting in a whopping 25 total bases in just six games. She doubled in each of her first three games of the weekend and homered in each of the last three contests. Garcia accounted for 12 RBIs, including 10 on Sunday alone. She drove in eight runs against Kansas City in the final game of the weekend with a pair of three-run bombs and a two-run double. In a 7-4 win over Colorado State earlier on Sunday, Garcia blasted a two-run home run in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach for the Rams.
 
Pitcher of the Week – Paige Bachman, Liberty – Senior – Pitcher – Fredericksburg, Va.
Bachman pitched a dominant three games at The Spring Games and helped the Lady Flames (5-0) to their best start since 2021. She went 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 16 strikeouts and just three walks across 13.2 innings. Bachman limited opponents to a mere .157 batting average over the weekend. She came on in relief in the season opener against Radford on Friday. With Liberty trailing 2-0 entering the fifth inning, Bachman pitched the final three innings, striking out four and allowing three hits as the Lady Flames rallied to win 3-2 on a walk-off hit. In her first start of the season, Bachman tossed a three-hit shutout against Cleveland State.  She struck out seven batters and issued just one walk. Bachman retired 12 straight batters, spanning the second through fifth innings, a stretch which began with six straight strikeouts.
 
Freshman of the Week – Jana Want, MTSU – Freshman – Third Base – Ontario, Canada
Want had a historic start to her collegiate career, recording a .563/.632/.813 slash line and a 1.445 OPS over the weekend at The Spring Games in Leesburg, Fla. In the season-opening loss to Louisville, she reached base safely in each of her first three career plate appearances. Want doubled in her first at-bat and followed with a three-run home run in the third before drawing a walk in the fifth. She finished the weekend with three-straight multi-hit games. In a 2-1 triumph over Cleveland State on Saturday, Want recorded a pair of RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings to lead the Blue Raiders’ comeback.
 
2025 CUSA Players of the Week
F10       Lauren Garcia, NM State
 
2025 CUSA Pitchers of the Week
F10       Paige Bachman, Liberty
 
2025 CUSA Freshmen of the Week
F10       Jana Want, MTSU