Ladyjacks Head To San Antonio
4/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 25, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team can strengthen its hold on second place in the Southland Conference with a solid performance in San Antonio, Texas, this weekend, when the Ladyjacks take on UTSA in a three-game series.
SFA enters the contest a half-game ahead of the third-place Roadrunners in the SLC standings with a 16-7 record in conference play. The Ladyjacks are 31-18 on the season. UTSA brings a 21-22 overall mark and a 16-8 league record to the series.
The Ladyjacks have won four of their last five games, including a 3-1 non-conference win over Houston Baptist on Wednesday. SFA is coming off a 2-1 series victory against SLC-leading Texas State in its last conference competition.
The Ladyjacks are currently the top hitting and pitching team in the Southland. SFA brings a league-best .282 batting average and a 1.94 ERA to this weekend's games.
Sophomore Kendal Harper leads the Ladyjacks and ranks fourth in the SLC with a .379 average. Harper is second in the conference in hits (64) and runs (36) and tied for third in triples with four. Jessica Tullos' SFA record 10 home runs this season rank third in the league, and she is tied for seventh in runs batted in with 30.
Freshman ace Monika Covington paces the SFA pitching staff and ranks second in the conference with a 1.38 ERA. She is on the verge of her 200th strikeout of the season with 199 to date. No other pitcher in the SLC has more than 170. Covington also leads the league in wins with 16.
The Roadrunners are coming off a three-game SLC sweep at Northwestern State, in which they outscored the Demons, 22-4. Prior to that series, though, UTSA lost eight games in a row, their longest skid of the season. The Roadrunners rank sixth in the conference with a .267 batting average, and UTSA's pitching has the seventh-best ERA in the league at 3.08.
The series is set to open Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The finale is scheduled to begin at noon on Sunday.
-- SFA --
