GAME NOTES: at McNeese State
3/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 25, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at McNeese State
March 27-28, 2010 • Lake Charles, La.
Saturday, March 27 • 1:00 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, March 28 • 12:00 p.m.
Ladyjacks
Record: 14-8 (7-2)
Last 5/Streak: 4-1/W1
Coach: Gay McNutt
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Cowgirls
Record: 18-16 (6-6)
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/L1
Coach: Natalie Poole
SID: Pam LaFosse
E-mail: plafosse@mcneese.edu
Web: mcneesesports.com
SERIES INFORMATION
THIS WEEKEND: The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will try to strengthen its hold on first place in the Southland Conference standings with a three-game league series at McNeese State. The Ladyjacks will begin the series Saturday with a doubleheader, then wrap things up on Sunday with a single game. SFA comes into the weekend set with a 14-8 overall record and a 7-2 mark against league competition. McNeese State is 18-16 for the season and 6-6 in Southland play.
LAST WEEK: After taking a week off, SFA had a Saturday doubleheader against Louisiana-Monroe rained out. On Wednesday, the Ladyjacks played their first game in 10 days and took a 7-2 win at Centenary College. Bethany Brown and Ashley Struchtemeyer homered in the game, and all three Ladyjack pitchers saw action in the contest, with Angela White picking up the win in relief. SFA's last Southland Conference action was a 2-1 home series win against Northwestern State on March 13 and 14.
THE COWGIRLS: McNeese State comes into the weekend as the sixth-place team in the Southland Conference. The Cowgirls have yet to be swept in a league series, but since opening conference play with a three-game broom job against Northwestern State, McNeese has dropped three consecutive series, losing 2-1 decisions to Nicholls, Texas State and UTSA. The Cowgirls earned a doubleheader split at No. 22 Louisiana-Lafayette on March 11 and are coming off a two-game split at home against Southern on Tuesday. McNeese ranks fourth in the Southland with a .272 team batting average, and the Cowgirls' 139 runs scored are second in the conference. McNeese leads the league in both doubles (47) and triples (7) and has more stolen bases (60) than any other team in the conference. The Cowgirl pitching staff has the No. 3 ERA in the league at 2.91, and McNeese ranks second in the Southland in strikeouts with 199.
LAST MEETING: McNeese State came to Nacogdoches as the Southland Conference leader on March 14 last season. The Cowgirls left with three straight losses that knocked them from the top of the league standings. SFA blanked McNeese in all three contests, outscoring the Cowgirls by a combined total of 22-0. In the series-ending doubleheader on Sunday, SFA belted a total of 27 base knocks and won both games by run-rule.
UP NEXT: The Ladyjacks will be back home next weekend for a three-game set against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The series will be played on Friday and Saturday to accomodate the Easter holiday.
NEWS AND NOTES
WORST TO FIRST: SFA opened the season with a five-game losing streak that stands as the worst start in the Southland Conference this year. Since that skid, though, the Ladyjacks are 14-3 and have put together two separate five-game win streaks. SFA is 7-2 in league play, giving the Ladyjacks the top winning percentage in the Southland.
SCORE! : When SFA scores two runs or fewer, the Ladyjacks are 2-7. But SFA has a 12-1 record when scoring at least three runs and is a perfect 7-0 when scoring six runs or more.
EARLY TO RISE: The Ladyjacks are 11-1 this season in games when they score first.
HOLDING ON TIGHT: SFA has been tough to beat when the Ladyjacks can grab a lead. They are 10-0 this season when leading after the fourth inning and 11-0 when leading after the sixth.
PLEAD THE FIFTH: The fifth inning this season has been the biggest frame for the Ladyjacks. They've scored 25 runs in the fifth. SFA's next-biggest inning is the second, when it has scored 17 runs.
STEPPING UP: Four Ladyjack veterans -- Briana Bishop, Amber Price, Jessica Arana and Michele Huffman -- have a higher batting average this season than their career mark.
SOUTHLAND SWITCH: SFA's season batting average of .257 ranks sixth in the Southland Conference, but the Ladyjacks' conference-only average of .289 is the second-best mark in the league. Only UT Arlington's .292 team average in SLC play is higher.
NO RUNS, NO PROBLEM: SFA's 85 runs scored this season are the second-fewest put up in the Southland Conference this season. But the Ladyjack pitching staff is taking up the slack. SFA has allowed just 70 runs for the year -- the lowest total in the league -- and the Ladyjacks' 2.76 ERA is second-best in the Southland.
BELOW AVERAGE: The Ladyjack pitching staff has held opponents to the lowest batting average in the Southland Conference. Foes are hitting just .221 against SFA pitching for the season and have a .180 average against the Ladyjacks in Southland Conference play.
MAKIN' HIT RECORDS: Briana Bishop already holds the SFA career records for home runs (30) and RBI (119) and is tied for the career mark in walks (76). With 32 doubles so far, she needs just five more to erase Angela Froboese's record of 36 two-baggers.
OPPORTUNISTIC: Briana Bishop leads the Ladyjacks in RBI with 17 this season, and her career total of 119 is the top mark in SFA history. She has a .333 batting average with runners in scoring position and is batting 1.000 in five at-bats with a runner on third and less than two out.
TWO DOWN, STEP UP: Brittany Caruthers leads the Ladyjacks with a .385 batting average when hitting with two outs. Her six two-out RBI are tied with Briana Bishop for the team lead.
STREAKING: Briana Bishop and Amber Price share the longest hitting streaks on the team this season. Each player has posted a nine-game hit streak. Bishop's streak began in the doubleheader split against North Texas and coincided with the start of a hot streak that saw SFA win eight of nine games. Bishop had a pair of four-RBI games during that run.
LATE BLOOMER: After opening the year with four losses and a no decision in her first five starts, ace Monika Covington has come on strong. Since that start she is 5-1 with a 0.93 ERA and has 53 strikeouts. For the season, Covington ranks second in the Southland with a 2.34 ERA, and her opponents' .200 batting average is the second-lowest figure in the league.
-- SFA --
