The Arizona Western softball team (16-4, 2-2) falls from No. 21 to No. 25 in the NJCAA DI Softball Week 2 rankings. The Lady Matadors are coming off a 2-2 road trip that opened ACCAC play for Arizona Western which saw the Lady Matadors lose both games of a doubleheader on Friday, a rebound to win the doubleheader on Saturday. 

"It's nice to be recognized but it's not vital this early in the season," Arizona Western head softball coach Joel Prickett said. "It's probably right about where we need to be."

The Lady Matadors entered the season ranked No. 24 in the NJCAA DI preseason polls and watched their spot climb to No. 21 after a 14-2 start to the season. 

"Eastern Arizona is a good team," Prickett said. "They played well on Friday. We went there not having a road trip yet this season. It's a little different when you're a visitor and they do some things that are a little different than we do. I think we got caught up a little bit in day one of it being our first road trip, first conference games. Eastern is the defending conference champion so we lost our focus a little. The girls did a good job getting refocused on Saturday."

The Lady Matadors are now preparing for another road trip, one that will take them to the state of Texas for games against Midland College, Howard College and No. 12 Odessa College. The Lady Matadors will play five games in a span of three days starting this Friday, March 5th. 

"It'll be interesting, it'll be good for us," Prickett said. "Midland is a solid team, they can swing it and have a really good pitching staff. Howard is traditionally a good team. Then there is Odessa, a top 10 program since I left there. Kind of a going home thing for me. They'll be tough and we'll know where we stand at the end of the weekend."

Arizona Western will leave Wednesday morning ahead of their first game on Friday versus Midland College. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. MST.