Texas State, SFA Series to Decide Southland Title
Texas State will attempt to join Northwestern State (1998-2000) and UTSA (2004-06) as the only teams in league history to win three consecutive regular season titles when the Bobcats travel to Nacogdoches, Texas, to take on Stephen F. Austin. The Ladyjacks, who are only one game out of first place behind the Bobcats, will be playing for its first regular season title. The series is scheduled for a doubleheader Saturday with the possible third and decisive game Sunday.
Key Weekend Matchups
In the
last week of the regular season and the Southland Conference Tournament
approaching, league teams are gearing toward a final push to secure its place
in the postseason event.
Texas
State and Stephen F. Austin are playing for the regular season title and will
claim the No. 1 and 2 seeds depending on this weekend's series winner. The
Ladyjacks have secured at least the No. 2 seed with series wins against McNeese
State (3-0) and Nicholls (2-1).
The No.
3, 4, 5 and 6 seeds have yet to be determined.
At 16-12
in conference play, UT Arlington is currently third in the league standings.
The Mavs have concluded their conference schedule and could fall to fourth or
fifth in the standings depending on this weekend's outcome for McNeese State
and Nicholls. The Cowgirls and Colonels have the tie-breaker advantage as both
teams swept UTA earlier this season.
McNeese
State and Nicholls are both 15-12 in conference play with the Colonels holding
the tie-breaker advantage with a 2-1 series win in head-to-head competition.
The Cowgirls will travel to Central Arkansas and Nicholls will take on Sam
Houston State. With series victories or a tie in the standings with UTA, both
McNeese and Nicholls would move ahead of the Mavs and receive a higher
tournament seed.
As of today,
UTSA would enter the Southland tournament as the No. 6 seed. UTSA holds the
tie-breaker advantage against McNeese and Nicholls with a 2-1 series victory
over both opponents. The Roadrunners could greatly improve their seeding with a
series sweep at Northwestern State.
Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi is one game behind UTSA for the final seed in the
Southland tournament. UTSA holds the tie-breaker advantage with a 2-1 series
win. The Islanders need to finish one game ahead of UTSA to enter tournament
play.
Sam
Houston State (11-15) is still mathematically alive for the Southland
tournament. The Bearkats, who swept UTSA earlier this season, would need to win
all three games against Nicholls and if Northwestern were to sweep UTSA, the
Bearkats would move ahead of the Roadrunners.
Central
Arkansas, who is currently eighth in the league standings and two games behind
UTSA for the final tournament spot is ineligible for postseason play. The Bears
will be eligible for the conference tournament next season.
Tournament
seeds are based upon order of finish in the regular season standings and the
standings are dictated by winning percentage against conference opponents.
Southland Softball Tournament
Tickets Now on Sale
Tickets
for the 2010 Southland Conference Softball Tournament, which will be hosted by
Texas State, May 13-15, are on sale. Adult reserved all-tournament tickets are
available for $35, while a youth reserved ticket is $25. A general admission
all-tournament ticket is available for $25.Tickets will also be available for
each day of the tournament. Individual day tickets go on sale May 3. An adult
reserved day ticket is $15 while a youth day ticket is $10. General admission
individual day tickets will also be available for $10.Tickets for the event,
which will be held at Bobcat Field in San Marcos, Texas, are available at the
Texas State Athletics Ticket Office, online at www.txstatebobcats.com or by
calling 512-245-2272 or at any Texas Box Office outlet.
Around
the Southland...
Central Arkansas
24-29, 12-14
Southland
The Bears went 2-2 last week, including a road series win over Sam
Houston State. After an 11-1 loss at Ole Miss Thursday, the Bears took both
games of a doubleheader from SHSU, Saturday. Senior Sarah Garcia hit a two-run
home run and freshman Kelsie Armstrong struck out 11 in a 3-0 opening game
shutout. The Bears pounded out 14-hits, led by junior Shayleen Ristau's 3-for-4
with 5 RBI outing in a 12-7 victory. The Bears Southland winning streak was
ended at seven games in a 1-0, 8-inning loss at Sam Houston, Sunday. Ristau
broke UCA's single-season record with 48 RBI. Armstrong became the fifth UCA
pitcher with 200 career strikeouts (206). The Bears broke two more school team
records in runs (226) and hits (392).
McNeese State
32-24, 15-12 Southland
McNeese State is
arguably the hottest team in the league winning eight of its last nine games
including a win at No. 16 LSU and a road sweep of conference rival UTA moving
the Cowgirls into fourth place in league standings. McNeese State's 32 overall wins are the most
by a Cowgirl team since 2005 (34) and is the fourth 30-plus win season in the
last six years. Freshman pitcher Meagan Bond posted a 3-0 record giving her 20
wins on the year to lead all Southland pitchers. Bond ended the week with a
0.98 ERA and 23 strikeouts. She also leads the league in innings pitched
(201.1) and strikeouts (232).
Nicholls
24-18, 15-12 Southland
Nicholls has
dropped four of its last five games with its one win coming against Stephen F.
Austin in a 10-4 rout in game two of a double header May 1. Senior Lyndsey Mesh
led the Colonels to the win becoming the first player in school history to hit
two grand slams in one game. For the week, freshman Ashton Bennett was seeing
beach balls at the plate. The freshman
outfielder led the team with an astounding .800 batting average, a 1.000
slugging percentage, and an .800 on-base percentage. She only had two
strikeouts on the week to go along with two doubles and three runs scored.
Northwestern State
25-24, 11-16
Southland
Northwestern State
has won three of its last five including its first win over league leader Texas
State since 2002 and took two-of-three from in-state rival Nicholls. Freshman
right hander Kylie Roos led the Lady Demons to their win over the Bobcats. She
hurled seven strong innings of shutout ball over the top team in the conference
as she nursed a minimal 1-0 lead and contained Texas State hitters to just six
hits in the contest. Freshman Ashleigh Kuhn led Northwestern at the plate with
a .333 average, seven hits and 11 total bases. The Lady Demons 25 overall and
11 conference wins thus far this season are their most since 2007.
Sam
Houston State
19-27, 11-15 Southland
Sam Houston State has won four of its last six games including a
sweep of conference rival Southeastern Louisiana. The Bearkats outscored the
Lady Lions 25-4 with a five-inning run rule decision in game two. Sam Houston
would later drop two-of-three to Central Arkansas to move to 19-27 on the year
and 11-15 on the year. Senior Tiffany Woodrum led the Kats at the plate with a
.400 average. Senior Morgan Mikulin had seven hits and 13 total bases while
sophomore Erin Burford led with seven RBI. On the mound Mikulin was 4-1 with a
1.03 ERA with 14 strikeouts and two shutouts. Mikulin currently ranks fifth in
the league with a 2.69 ERA.
Southeastern
Louisiana
11-34, 3-22 Southland
Southeastern
Louisiana has dropped six of its last seven games to fall to 11-34 overall and
3-22 in conference play this season. Junior Katie Duhe hit .727 for the week
and extended her current hitting streak to 11 games. Saturday, she hit for the
cycle in a 12-11 win over McNeese State, finishing the game 4-for-4 with three
RBI and two runs scored. A native of Lutcher, La., Duhe also had two hits in
Wednesday's loss to Southern Miss. For the year, she's hitting .325 with five
home runs and 20 RBI. Duhe's current 11-game hitting streak is three off of the
longest in school history.
Stephen
F. Austin
26-17, 18-9 Southland
After dropping
five of its last seven games including a sweep at Central Arkansas, Stephen F.
Austin remains only one game out of first place in the conference standings.
Junior right hander Monika Covington won both starts over the weekend in a
pivotal series that kept the Ladyjacks in the hunt for a conference title. She
is now 13-9 on the season with 149 strikeouts, both of which rank sixth in
conference. Ashley Struchtemeyer, Kendal Harper, Jessica Arana and Kayla
Gutowski each hit .400 at the plate last week with a combined eight RBI, 26
total bases and 16 hits, including three doubles and two home runs.
Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi
32-20, 13-14 Southland
The Islanders 32 wins are their most in a single season since its first
Southland season in 2007. The Islanders are also tied for the league lead with
McNeese State for the most overall wins in the Southland. Senior Margo Hurdt
did it from the mound and the plate as she belted a walk-off home run in the
bottom of the ninth inning Saturday to give the Islanders a 6-4 win in extra
innings. She held UTA hitless over 4.1 innings and Sunday she got the win after
going 4.2 innings while also notching the game-winning hit once again. On the weekend,
she had a 2.33 ERA and just a .138 opponent batting average with a record of
2-0. From the plate, she hit .400 and
had a double, a walk-off home run and five RBI.
Texas
State
24-22, 19-8 Southland
Heading into the
last week of the regular season, Texas State leads the Southland with a 19-8
conference record. Junior Jenna Emery hit .571 to lead the Bobcats to a 2-1
weekend record. Emery was 2-for-2 in game two, with a pair of RBI. She recorded
a three-run homer in game three to drive in the game-winning run for the
Bobcats. Emery had zero strikeouts on the week and slugged 1.143. Sophomore
Chandler Hall was dominate in the circle for Texas State recording a 1-1-1
record. In Hall's only loss on the weekend she pitched a no-hitter through five
innings, before giving up two hits and one run. She allowed just two runs in
13.2 innings pitched, whiling fanning 15 batters in the process and picking up
her 40th career win.
UT
Arlington
26-22, 16-12 Southland
After winning
six consecutive games, UT Arlington ran into a wall dropping five of its last
six games and have been outscored 25-15 with one shut out. Junior Rebecca
Collom finished the weekend leading the Mavericks with a .545 batting average,
going 6-for-11 with four RBI, and three runs. Collom recorded at least one hit
in each game against the Islanders. She connected on her eighth home run of the
season in game three and recorded a double in both game one and game two.
Collom leads the team with 50 hits and 29 RBI.
Her .338 batting average ranks eighth in the league and .541 slugging
percentage ranks ninth.
UTSA
22-27,
14-13 Southland
UTSA has won 10 of its last 12 games to move
ahead of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for sixth place in the league standings
and a possible seed in the coming Southland tournament. In the previous two
conference series, the Roadrunners took two-of-three from Nicholls and league
leader Texas State. Sophomore Caitlyn Ivy led UTSA at the plate with a .423
average, 11 hits and 13 total bases. With three shutouts and four games
allowing only one run, sophomore Morgan Luska and juniors Emily Humpal and
Danye' Holmes shut down the competition. Humpal posted a 1.44 ERA going 4-2
with 21 strikeouts. Luska was 1-0 with a 0.50 ERA and Holmes recorded a win
with a 1.62 ERA.