SERIES NOTES: at UT Arlington
4/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 9, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at UT Arlington
April 10-11, 2010 • Arlington, Texas
Ladyjacks
Record: 20-9 (13-2)
Last 5/Streak: 4-1/L1
Coach: Gay McNutt
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Mavericks
Record: 19-17 (10-7)
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/L2
Coach: Debbie Hedrick
SID: Kristyna Mancias
E-mail: kmancias@uta.edu
Web: utamavs.com
SERIES INFORMATION
THIS WEEKEND: The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will try to extend its six-game Southland Conference win streak in a three-game road series against UT Arlington. The league-leading Ladyjacks bring a 20-9 overall mark and a 13-2 record in Southland play to the series. UT Arlington comes into the weekend as the conference's fourth-place team with a 10-7 record in league play. The Mavericks are 19-17 overall.
LAST WEEK: SFA pounded out 34 hits, including six home runs, in a three-game sweep against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Ladyjacks took a 10-3 win in the opener, then scored a 10-2 verdict in Game 2. SFA wrapped up the sweep with a walk-off home run by Jessica Arana in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 win. Arana batted .583 for the series making her one of three players to hit .500 or better against the Islanders. Kendal Harper led the team with a .636 average, becoming SFA's career hits leader during the series. Briana Bishop batted .556. Brittany Caruthers hit .455 with a pair of three-run homers to drive in a team-best six runs. The Ladyjacks then saw their season-best seven-game win streak come to a close with Tuesday's 7-0 loss at Texas A&M. SFA put up five hits versus six for the Aggies, but the Ladyjacks left seven runners stranded in the game.
THE MAVERICKS: UT Arlington comes into the weekend series having lost three of its last five games. But the Mavericks have won each of their last two Southland Conference series, taking 2-1 verdicts over Northwestern State and UTSA. UTA's lone series loss in its last five conference sets was a three-game sweep at Nicholls. The Mavericks are 8-5 at home this season with a 7-1 mark against league competition at Allan Saxe Field. UTA ranks eighth in the Southland with a .248 team batting average for the year, but the Mavs have the fourth-best league-only average at .281. Sixteen of UTA's 27 home runs have come in Southland play, putting the Mavs second in the league. UTA's pitching staff leads the conference with a 2.33 ERA and a .220 opponent batting average.
LAST MEETING: UT Arlington took three straight from SFA in Nacogdoches last season marking the only three-game sweep of the Ladyjacks in league play a year ago and SFA's only series loss at home. The Mavericks took the series by a combined total of four runs. They won, 2-1, in the opener and took a 3-2 win in the finale, with a 6-4 verdict sandwiched in between. SFA got the last word, however, with a 7-0 win against the Mavs in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament.
UP NEXT: SFA will play four games at home next week. The Ladyjacks will host Centenary College on Wednesday, then entertain Southeastern Louisiana in a three-game Southland Conference series over the weekend.
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.
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.
MOVIN' ON UP: SFA's recent seven-game win streak started with a 7-2 verdict at Centenary College on March 24. Going into that contest, SFA ranked sixth in the Southland Conference with a .255 batting average. Over the ensuing seven games, the Ladyjacks hit .361 to improve to .284 on the year -- second in the Southland. With 16 home runs during that stretch, SFA moved from sixth to third in that category, and the Ladyjacks went from sixth in the league with a .372 slugging percentage to a league-best .458 after slugging .688 over the course of the seven-game win streak.
CA-RUSHING IT: Freshman Brittany Caruthers was a huge part of SFA's recent seven-game win streak. She came into the streak batting .254 with five doubles and five RBI through the first 21 games of the year. During the seven-game streak, Caruthers hit .440 with three doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and a .920 slugging percentage.
WHITEOUT: Freshman Angela White posted a 4-0 record with a 0.86 ERA in four appearances during SFA's recent seven-game win streak. White tossed complete-game victories in each of her two starts during that stretch, including a seven-inning shutout at McNeese State. She didn't allow a run in either relief appearance. For the season, White is 11-4 with a 3.50 ERA.
THUNDER-STRUCHT: Through the first 21 games of the season, Ashley Struchtemeyer batted .254 with one home run and two RBI. But she belted a home run in four straight games recently and hit .462 with eight RBI combined in games against Centenary and McNeese State. She is now batting .281 and is fourth on the team with 12 RBI.
START-TO-FINISH: SFA has gotten out to a strong start in each of its five Southland Conference series. The Ladyjacks are 5-0 in series openers and bat .278 as a team, while ace starter Monika Covington has held the opposition to a .194 batting average in series openers. Though its record in series finales is slightly worse at 4-1, SFA has been even more dominant in closing out its league series. The Ladyjacks bat .309 versus opponents' .177 average and have outscored their foes, 30-9, in series finales.
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.
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 20-4 and have put together two separate win streaks of five or more games. SFA is 13-2 in league play, giving the Ladyjacks the top winning percentage in the Southland.
SCORE! : When SFA scores two runs or fewer, the Ladyjacks are 2-8. But SFA has an 18-1 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 16-1 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.
PLEAD THE FIFTH: The fifth inning this season has been the biggest frame for the Ladyjacks. They've scored 33 runs in the fifth. SFA's next-biggest inning is the second, when it has scored 30 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 .281 ranks second in the Southland Conference, but the Ladyjacks' conference-only average of .322 leads the next-best mark in the conference by 32 points.
NO RUNS, NO PROBLEM: SFA's 131 runs scored this season are tied for seventh in the Southland Conference. But the Ladyjack pitching staff is taking up the slack. SFA has allowed just 90 runs for the year -- the lowest total in the league by a full 20 runs -- and the Ladyjacks' 2.78 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 .229 against SFA pitching for the season and have a .208 average against the Ladyjacks in Southland Conference play.
RECORD WATCH: Senior Kendal Harper has added a pair of career records to her resume in the last couple of weeks. 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 206 base knocks. Harper already 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.
OPPORTUNISTIC: Briana Bishop leads the Ladyjacks in RBI with 20 this season, and her career total of 122 is the top mark in SFA history. She has a .333 batting average with runners in scoring position and is batting .833 in six at-bats with a runner on third and less than two out.
TWO DOWN, STEP UP: Brittany Caruthers leads the Ladyjacks with a .371 batting average when hitting with two outs. Her 10 two-out RBI lead the team.
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 8-1 with a 1.51 ERA and has 67 strikeouts. For the season, Covington ranks second in the Southland with a 2.34 ERA.
-- SFA --
