Ladyjacks Set For Southern Miss Tourney
2/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 19, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will try to build on the momentum of its first win of the season this weekend when the Ladyjacks head to Hattiesburg, Miss., to play in the Southern Miss Mizuno Classic.
SFA (1-5) is scheduled to open the tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday with a game against Louisiana Tech. The Ladyjacks will follow that with an 11:30 a.m. tilt with Alcorn State. The tournament will wrap up Sunday with a 9 a.m. contest against Notre Dame, followed by a 4:30 p.m. showdown with tournament host Southern Miss.
After opening the season with four losses in the Mississippi State Bulldog Round-Robin last weekend, the Ladyjacks earned a split in Wednesday's home doubleheader against North Texas. SFA dropped the first game, 7-0, but senior Briana Bishop belted a three-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 2 to get the Ladyjacks into the win column with a 5-2 verdict.
The home run is the 27th of Bishop's career, adding to her school-record total. In all, she went 3-for-6 with four RBI and a run scored to lead SFA at the plate in the doubleheader. She has 107 career RBI and is just four short of a new Ladyjack record. Sophomore Jessica Arana and freshman Brittany Caruthers each hit safely twice in the two-game set, with Arana picking up her first double of the season. Arana's .417 average leads SFA for the year, while Bishop is just behind her at .313.
Freshman pitcher Angela White worked all seven innings of the win over UNT to move to 1-2 on the season. Junior ace Monika Covington (0-3) will be looking for her first victory of the season this weekend.
The Mizuno Classic field is a solid one. All but one of SFA's four opponents bring a winning record to the weekend, and two of the four teams are undefeated to this point in the season.
Louisiana Tech is 2-0. The Techsters opened 2010 with a doubleheader sweep of Southland Conference team Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday. La. Tech took a 5-1 win in the opener and a 6-2 victory in the second game.
Alcorn State went 3-1 in its opening week. The Braves swept a doubleheader with Kentucky State and split a pair of games against Emory.
Notre Dame comes in at 1-4, but after a season-opening tournament that featured some stiff competition. The Irish opened the year with a win over Creighton in the Kajikawa Classic at Tempe, Ariz. They then dropped consecutive games against Oregon, Auburn, Oregon State and Washington. This weekend's tournament is part of a season-opening 24-game road swing for the Irish. Notre Dame won't play a home game until March 23.
Southern Miss is undefeated at 5-0 on the season. The Golden Eagles opened 2010 with a road win over No. 19 Florida State in the Sunshine State Classic. They followed with two wins against Mercer and a victory over Bowling Green to take the tournament title. Southern Miss is coming off a road win against Southern on Tuesday that gave the Golden Eagles their first 5-0 start in program history. Southern Miss received 10 votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll.
Live stats for all tournament games will be provided via GameTracker on the Southern Miss Web site. Click here to access the Golden Eagle schedule page.
-- SFA --
