SERIES NOTES: at Central Arkansas
4/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 23, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at Central Arkansas
April 24-25, 2010 • Conway, Ark.
Ladyjacks
Record: 24-13 (16-5)
Last 5/Streak: 4-1/L1
Coach: Gay McNutt
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Bears
Record: 19-27 (7-13)
Last 5/Streak: 4-1/W2
Coach: David Kuhn
SID: Cody Usher
E-mail: cusher@uca.edu
Web: ucasports.com
SERIES INFORMATION
THIS WEEKEND: The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will try to hold onto its share of first place in the Southland Conference when it takes on Central Arkansas in a three-game road series. The Ladyjacks come into the set having won four of their last five and three straight in league play. SFA is tied with Texas State atop the league standings with a 16-5 conference record and boasts a 24-13 overall mark. Central Arkansas brings a 19-27 season record to the series. The Bears are 7-13 in Southland play and tied for ninth.
LAST WEEK: SFA rebounded from a four-game skid by winning four straight at home. The Ladyjacks opened the week with a 4-3 extra-inning win against Centenary College. Ashley Struchtemeyer drove in Briana Bishop for the game-winner with a ninth-inning double. Over the weekend, the Ladyjacks dominated Southeastern Louisiana, taking Games 1 and 3 in five innings by 9-1 verdicts. Angela White picked up her fourth shutout of the year with a 3-0 win in between. Seven Ladyjacks batted .400 or better in the series with Jessica Arana (.750), Karissa Jones (.667), and Kayla Gutowski (.625) leading the way. Jones and Gutowski each drove in five runs, tying for the team lead. Kendal Harper went 4-for-8 with a double and two home runs. SFA is coming off a 3-2 loss at Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday.
THE BEARS: Central Arkansas comes into the weekend having won four of its last five contests, including two straight to secure a series victory at Northwestern State. That series win was the second in Southland play for the Bears and their first since taking two games against Southeastern Louisiana on March 20. Central Arkansas' .273 team batting average is fourth in the Southland, and the Bears are second in the league in runs scored with 193. UCA's 32 home runs are tied with SFA and two other squads for second in the league. Leadoff batter Candice Gauntt leads the Southland with 38 runs scored, and Shayleen Ristau and Melanie Bryant are tied for second in home runs with nine apiece. Central Arkansas' pitching staff ranks fifth in the league with a 3.27 ERA.
LAST MEETING: SFA took three straight against the Bears in dominant fashion in Nacogdoches last season. The Ladyjacks won the opener, 10-0, and took a 9-1 win in Game 2, blasting three home runs in each game. SFA wrapped up the series with an 8-2 win in the finale as Briana Bishop hit her record-breaking 24th career home run. SFA batted .446 on the weekend and blasted eight home runs in the series.
UP NEXT: SFA will continue its final road trip of the season with a three-game series at Nicholls next weekend. The set against the Colonels will begin with a doubleheader on May 1. Following that, the Ladyjacks will host Texas State in the regular-season finale, starting on May 8.
NEWS AND NOTES
SLAMMIN' SOUTHEASTERN: Of SFA's four Southland series sweeps, last week's against Southeastern Louisiana is the most dominant. The Ladyjacks batted .439 as a team and outscored the Lions, 21-1, winning two games by run-rule. SFA had five doubles and four home runs for a .697 slugging percentage that ranks just behind the .698 the Ladyjacks slugged against McNeese State. The SFA pitchers held Southeastern to a .207 average and finished the weekend with a 0.82 ERA.
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 AWAY: 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 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' four Southland series sweeps, SFA has batted .368 as a team and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 90-23. The Ladyjacks have banged out 22 doubles, 19 home runs and two triples for a team slugging percentage of .614 in the 12 wins. 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 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 24-8 and have put together two separate win streaks of five or more games. SFA is 16-5 in league play, tied for first in the Southland.
SCORE! : When SFA scores two runs or fewer, the Ladyjacks are 2-12. But SFA has a 22-1 record when scoring at least three runs and is a perfect 14-0 when scoring six runs or more.
EARLY TO RISE: The Ladyjacks are 19-2 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 16-1 this season when leading after the fourth inning and 15-0 when leading after the sixth.
WORKING FROM TWO TO FIVE: The second and fifth innings have been the most productive for SFA this season. The Ladyjacks have scored 35 runs in the second and 33 runs in the fifth inning. They've outscored the opposition by a combined total of 68-29 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 .284 ranks second in the Southland Conference, but the Ladyjacks' conference-only average of .315 leads the league by a total of 23 percentage points.
NO RUNS, NO PROBLEM: SFA's 158 runs scored this season are eighth in the Southland Conference. But the Ladyjack pitching staff is taking up the slack. SFA has allowed just 108 runs for the year and have a 2.76 ERA -- both of which rank second 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 .233 against SFA pitching for the season and have a .219 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 216 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 (32), RBI (126) and walks (82). With 35 doubles so far, she needs just two more to erase Angela Froboese's record of 36 two-baggers.
TWO DOWN, STEP UP: Brittany Caruthers leads the Ladyjacks with a .357 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. The longest current streak is Kayla Gutowski's five-game 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 11-3 with a 1.60 ERA and has 87 strikeouts. For the season, Covington ranks second in the Southland with a 2.25 ERA.
-- SFA --
