SERIES NOTES: Southeastern Louisiana
4/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 16, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Southeastern La. at Stephen F. Austin
April 17-18, 2010 • Nacogdoches, Texas
Saturday, April 17 • 1:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 17 • 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 18 • 12:00 p.m.
Ladyjacks
Record: 21-12 (13-5)
Last 5/Streak: 1-4/W1
Coach: Gay McNutt
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Lions
Record: 9-25 (2-14)
Last 5/Streak: 1-4/L4
Coach: Pete Langlois
SID: Kemmler Chapple
E-mail: kemmler.chapple@selu.edu
Web: lionsports.net
SERIES INFORMATION
THIS WEEKEND: The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will try to rebound from its first Southland Conference series defeat of the year when SFA hosts Southeastern Louisiana in a three-game set. The Ladyjacks come into the contest with a 21-12 season mark and a 13-5 Southland record that has them second in the league standings. Southeastern Louisiana is 9-25 on the year and stands last in the league with a 2-14 Southland record.
LAST WEEK: The Ladyjacks suffered three consecutive shutout losses at UT Arlington over the weekend to fall out of first place in the Southland Conference standings and put the brakes on SFA's six-game conference win streak. That marked the second season in a row for UTA to sweep the Ladyjacks, and those two series sweeps stand as the only ones recorded in Gay McNutt's three years as head coach. Coming on the heels of a 7-0 defeat at Texs A&M earlier in the week, the sweep moved SFA within a loss of tying for its longest skid of the season. But the Ladyjacks bounced back with a 4-3 extra-inning victory against Centenary on Wednesday. Despite matching their hit total for the game with 13 runners stranded, the Ladyjacks got an RBI double from Ashley Struchtemeyer in the bottom of the ninth to end their losing streak and sweep the season series with Centenary.
THE LIONS: Since opening Southland play with a 5-3 win over Nicholls, Southeastern has dropped 14 of 15 league games and has recorded 19 losses total. The Lions have lost each of their last four contests, dropping three straight in a league series against Northwestern State, then losing to Southern on Wednesday. Southeastern is 5-11 on the road this season. The Lions' .233 season batting average is last in the Southland, and they have hit at a slightly worse clip since beginning league play, batting .229 against conference pitching. Southeastern's pitching staff has a 5.13 ERA, which ranks last in the league, as does its .316 opponent batting average.
LAST MEETING: Southeastern took a pair of one-run wins to capture a 2-1 verdict in last season's series with the Ladyjacks in Hammond, La. The Lions won the first game, 3-2. SFA came back with a 2-1 win in the second contest on a two-run double in the fifth inning by Kayla Gutowski. The Ladyjacks spotted Southeastern a five-run lead with eight runs on six hits and two errors in the second inning of the finale. The Lions would hold on for a 9-8 victory, sealing the series win.
UP NEXT: SFA will open an eight-game road trip next week when it travels to take on Louisiana-Monroe in a doubleheader on Wednesday. The Ladyjacks then head to Conway, Ark., for a three-game series against Central Arkansas before wrapping up the road swing the following weekend with three games at Nicholls.
NEWS AND NOTES
SHUT DOWN: SFA's season-best seven-game win streak came to an end with a 7-0 loss at Texas A&M. That defeat marked the Ladyjacks' first shutout since a 3-0 loss to Notre Dame on Feb. 21. SFA followed that up with three straight scoreless losses at UT Arlington, marking the longest run of consecutive shutouts since the Ladyjacks dropped five straight games without scoring during the 2002 season.
SWEPT UP: SFA suffered its first three-game sweep of the season at UT Arlington. That marks just the second time in three years under head coach Gay McNutt for the Ladyjacks to lose all three games in a Southland series. Both sweeps have come at the hands of UTA.
STREAKS: SFA's recent season-best seven-game win streak overlapped with another impressive Ladyjack streak. SFA hit at least one home run in each of those seven wins, beginning the streak with five straight multi-homer contests. The Ladyjacks blasted 16 home runs over the seven-game streak, bettering the 12 total long balls they hit in the first 21 games of the season.
SWEEPIN' UP: In the Ladyjacks' Southland sweeps against Sam Houston State, McNeese State and A&M-Corpus Christi, SFA batted .351 as a team and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 69-21. The Ladyjacks banged out 17 doubles, 15 home runs and two triples for a team slugging percentage of .594 in the nine games. In their only series loss of the year against UT Arlington, the Ladyjacks batted .175 with one extra-base hit and failed to hit a home run, getting outscored, 10-0.
WORST TO (ALMOST) 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 21-7 and have put together two separate win streaks of five or more games. SFA is 13-5 in league play, giving the Ladyjacks the second-best winning percentage in the Southland.
SCORE! : When SFA scores two runs or fewer, the Ladyjacks are 2-11. But SFA has a 19-1 record when scoring at least three runs and is a perfect 12-0 when scoring six runs or more.
EARLY TO RISE: The Ladyjacks are 17-1 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 13-0 this season when leading after the fourth inning and 14-0 when leading after the sixth.
WORKING FROM TWO TO FIVE: The fifth and second innings have been the most productive for SFA this season. The Ladyjacks have scored 33 runs in the fifth inning and 31 runs in the second. They've outscored the opposition by a combined total of 64-27 in those two innings.
STEPPING UP: Five Ladyjack veterans -- Briana Bishop, Amber Price, Jessica Arana, Ashley Struchtemeyer and Michele Huffman -- have a higher batting average this season than their career mark.
SOUTHLAND SWITCH: SFA's season batting average of .275 ranks second in the Southland Conference, but the Ladyjacks' conference-only average of .299 leads all teams.
NO RUNS, NO PROBLEM: SFA's 135 runs scored this season are ninth in the Southland Conference. But the Ladyjack pitching staff is taking up the slack. SFA has allowed just 103 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 second-lowest batting average in the Southland Conference. Foes are hitting just .236 against SFA pitching for the season and have a .221 average against the Ladyjacks in Southland Conference play.
RECORD WATCH: Senior Kendal Harper has added a pair of career records to her resume this season. Her triple against Centenary College gave her 13 for her career, surpassing Carrie Woydziak's former career mark of 12. Harper also took over the career hits record with her 201st hit during the series with A&M-Corpus Christi. She currently has 211 base knocks. Harper also holds single-season records for hits (75) and stolen bases (28), both recorded in 2008. She needs only 12 more stolen bases to set a new mark in that category.
MAKIN' HIT RECORDS: Briana Bishop already holds the SFA career records for home runs (31), RBI (122) and walks (79). With 34 doubles so far, she needs just three more to erase Angela Froboese's record of 36 two-baggers.
TWO DOWN, STEP UP: Brittany Caruthers leads the Ladyjacks with a .368 batting average when hitting with two outs. Her 10 two-out RBI lead the team.
STREAKING: Kendal Harper, Briana Bishop and Amber Price share the longest hitting streaks on the team this season at nine games. Bishop and Price recorded their streaks ealier this season, but Harper's is current. She was batting .267 through 24 games before 14-for-31 in the last nine games to up her season average to .321. During the nine-game streak, Harper has had four multi-hit games, including a 3-for-5 performance against A&M-Corpus Christi.
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 9-3 with a 1.63 ERA and has 75 strikeouts. For the season, Covington ranks second in the Southland with a 2.31 ERA.
-- SFA --
