SFA Set To Take On Southeastern
4/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 2, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
SFA at Southeastern Louisiana
April 4 • Hammond, La.
1:00 p.m. • 3:00 p.m.
SFA at Southeastern Louisiana
April 5 • Hammond, La.
12:00 p.m.
GAME INFORMATION
THIS WEEK: Following a nearly week-long break, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will resume Southland Conference play with a three-game series at Southeastern Louisiana this weekend. The Ladyjacks bring an 18-19 overall record to the weekend, along with their 8-7 mark in SLC play. SFA finds itself in sixth place in the league standings with five conference series to play. Southeastern is 14-19 on the season and 3-12 in Southland action. The Lions are 10th in the conference.
LAST WEEK: Just seven days after completing their longest winning streak of the season, the Ladyjacks found themselves in the midst of their longest skid of the current campaign, thanks to a three-game sweep at home at the hands of UT-Arlington. The brooming included a pair of one-run verdicts -- 2-1 and 3-2 -- sandwiched around a 6-4 loss in the second game. SFA took the first lead in each of the three games before seeing the Mavericks pull ahead late. The Ladyjacks batted just .189 in the three-game series. Five of the seven runs SFA scored over the weekend came on home runs -- Briana Bishop hit a three-run shot, and Benet Higgs and Kim Daley each hit solo bombs -- but the Ladyjacks found the going tough, when it came to manufacturing runs. The entire weekend, SFA failed to get a runner to third with fewer than two outs. Overall, the Ladyjacks were 4-for-20 with runners in scoring position. Sophomore ace Monika Covington worked complete games in the first and final contests of the series, and allowed just four earned runs. But with run support in short supply, Covington wound up on the wrong end of a pair of defeats. She recorded 20 strikeouts on the weekend, including 15 in Sunday's game, the most she's ever thrown in a seven-inning contest.
THE LIONS: Southeastern Louisiana is second from the bottom in the Southland Conference standings, but the Lions have won two straight games and four of their last five contests. That run includes a 2-1 series victory at Northwestern State last week. The Lions are coming off a 3-1 mid-week win over Louisiana-Monroe. Southeastern is batting .232 as a team, led by Katie Duhe's .333 average and 10 doubles. The Lions pitching staff carries a 4.30 ERA, and opponents are batting .295 against Southeastern. Catherine Gunther leads the team with her 7-8 record and 2.93 ERA. The Lions are 7-10 at home this season.
UP NEXT: SFA will open its longest home stand of the season. The Ladyjacks host Centenary on April 8, then entertain Central Arkansas in a three-game series on April 10 and 11. The following weekend, SFA will host Nicholls State, with games set for April 18 and 19.
NEWS AND NOTES
HOMERS: SFA hit a home run in each of its three games over the weekend against UT-Arlington. This marks the third time this season for the Ladyjacks to put together a streak of at least three games with a homer. SFA has also had runs of five and six consecutive games with at least one long ball this season. Those streaks came with just one homerless contest between, making a total run of 11 out of 12 games with a homer between Feb. 24 and March 8. SFA had five multi-home run games during that stretch for a total of 18 bombs in 12 games.
CAREER-BEST: Monika Covington tossed 15 strikeouts in SFA's 3-2 loss to UT-Arlington in the series finale. That total falls five short of the career-high 20 she posted in a 13-inning game against Nicholls State last season, but set a new career mark for punch-outs in a seven-inning contest. Covington's previous best in regulation was the 14 she recorded in a shutout win against Jackson State earlier this season. She has posted 13 games in her career with at least 10 strikeouts, including six this season.
STREAKIN': Starting with SFA's 8-4 win at No. 17 Texas A&M on March 8, the Ladyjacks rattled off seven consecutive victories. This is the longest win streak for SFA since the 2001 season. That year, the Ladyjacks won eight straight between Feb. 18 and March 4. This year's seven-game streak is just the third such run of seven games or longer since the 2000 season.
BLANKED OUT: In the midst of their seven-game win streak, the Ladyjacks put another impressive run on the books. Beginning with a 5-0 win over McNeese State on March 14, SFA put up five straight shutout wins. This is the longest run of consecutive shutouts in the program's tenure at the NCAA Dvision I era, according to available records. Including the seventh inning of the win at Texas A&M and the first three innings of a series-opening victory at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the SFA pitching staff went 36 straight innings without allowing a run. During the five-game shutout streak, the Ladyjacks outscored the opposition, 33-0.
ON TOP: As of March 30, Ladyjack players occupied the No. 1 slot in six of the top 11 offensive statistical categories on the list of overall Southland Conference individual leaders this season. As a team, the Ladyjacks lead the league in slugging percentage (.426), hits (270), RBI (139), home runs (32), and total bases (420).
GUTTING THE COMPETITION: Freshman Kayla Gutowski has given opposing pitchers fits this season. She leads the Ladyjacks and the SLC with a .352 batting average and is only recently removed from a 21-game hitting streak. During the streak, which began with two base knocks at Sam Houston State on Feb. 24, Gutowski had nine multi-hit games and 11 extra-base hits. She also leads the SLC in hits with 38 and RBI with 29.
SHE SPELLS MONIKA WITH A "K": Sophomore Monika Covington leads the Southland Conference in strikeouts with 168 to her credit this season. She is averaging 1.18 strikeouts per inning pitched, slightly ahead of the pace of 1.12 she set last season, when she was named SLC Freshman of the Year.
DEFENSE FIRST: All but one of SFA's 18 wins this season have come when SFA commits fewer than three errors. The Ladyjacks are 9-14 in games when they commit at least one error. For the year, SFA ranks second in the Southland Conference with a .970 fielding percentage.
POWER SURGE: A year after setting a new team record with 43 home runs, the Ladyjacks are again putting up big power numbers. For the season, SFA leads the Southland Conference with 32 home runs. The Ladyjacks' 17 homers in SLC play are the most of any team in the league. Kim Daley's five homers in Southland play are tied for the league lead, and four of the top 10 individual totals overall have been recorded by Ladyjacks. Daley leads with nine, Briana Bishop's eight are next, and Ashley Struchtemeyer and Kayla Gutowski are tied for ninth with four each.
RUN IT UP: When the Ladyjacks score at least six runs this season, they are undefeated at 10-0. When scoring at least three runs, SFA is 17-8. Eleven of the Ladyjacks' defeats have come in games when SFA scores fewer than three runs. Conversely, the Ladyjacks are just 3-16 when the opposition scores at least three runs.
HOPE THE HITS KEEP COMING: In the 20 games in which SFA has posted more hits than the opposition, the Ladyjacks are 16-4. SFA is batting .339 in its 18 wins this season, a full 65 points better than its season batting average.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Freshman shortstop Jessica Arana went 5-for-13 to lead SFA with a .385 average in last weekend's Baylor Getterman Classic. She also posted a double, drove in a run and scored three times. For her efforts, Arana was named to the Getterman Classic All-Tournament team.
PRESEASON FAVORITES: SFA is projected to win the Southland Conference, according to preseason polling of both league head coaches and sports information directors. A season after finishing fourth in the SLC standings, the Ladyjacks took seven of 11 possible first-place votes in the coaches' poll and five of the top nods in the SID poll.
PRESEASON ALL-SLC: Three Ladyjacks -- senior Kim Daley, junior Kendal Harper and sophomore Monika Covington -- were named to the Preseason All-SLC teams. All three were post-season all-conference selections a year ago with Covington taking Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-SLC honors.
BACK FOR MORE: The Ladyjacks entered the 2009 season as one of the most experienced teams in the region. SFA returned eight starters, plus the designated player, and 15 total letterwinners from last season's 36-25 team.
THIRTY-SOMETHING: SFA finished the 2008 season with a 36-25 record. The 36 wins are the third-most recorded by a Ladyjack team since joining the Southland Conference in 1988. The Ladyjacks' 36-25 record marks the program's first winning season since 2000 and is just the second time since 1994 for the team to finish at .500 or better. The '94 campaign saw the Ladyjacks go 31-31 on the year and was SFA's most recent 30-win season coming into this year's campaign.
NCAA NEWCOMER: The Ladyjack softball program won the NCAA Division II championship in 1986, but last year's team was the first in program history to earn a berth in the NCAA Division I Championships.
SOUTHLAND SUCCESS: The Ladyjacks won the 2008 Southland Conference Tournament, but, just to reach the league's post-season tournament was an achievement for the SFA softball program. Prior to last year, the Ladyjacks had not made the SLC Tournament since 1990, when SFA won its first tournament title as a Division I program. The Ladyjacks went 18 seasons between tourney appearances.
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-- SFA --
