Ladyjacks To Face HBU In Final Road Series
4/26/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 26, 2013
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - With only six games remaining in the conference season, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks softball team will make their final road trip of the year beginning this Saturday when they travel to Houston Baptist for a three-game set beginning Saturday with a doubleheader that begins at 1 p.m.
SFA (14-28, 7-14) will enter play this weekend four games behind both Southeastern Louisiana (11-10) and Lamar (11-10), who both hold the final SLC Tournament spots as the respective fifth and sixth seeds.
The Ladyjacks are riding a bit of momentum following their second SLC series victory of the year, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi two games out of three last weekend in Nacogdoches. It marked the first time SFA has won back-to-back games since March 16-17 when they also took two out of three against Lamar.
SFA junior shortstop Elizabeth Arana continues to rake the ball in conference play and enters this weekend with a .456 batting average over 21 games, including an on-base percentage of .507. Arana hit two home runs against the Islanders last weekend and has 31 conference hits.
Freshman designated player Shanice Love has also been on fire of late and has raised her average to .314 in conference play with eight RBI. In the circle Angela White is coming off a solid weekend against A&M-Corpus, earning two victories and lowering her conference ERA to 3.66.
HBU (15-22, 6-15) has lost their last 11 conference games but did sweep a doubleheader from Prairie View this past Tuesday by scores of 6-0 and 14-4. Lauren Schwirtlich leads the Huskies with a .432 batting average with a team-high 51 hits and 35 runs. Her sister, freshman Kirsten Schwirtlich, leads HBU in both home runs (9) and RBI (44).
In the circle the Huskies lean on the trio of Sarah Shotton, Keely Shuler and Kendall Stiefel, who have a combined 3.17 ERA but only a 15-22 overall record.
Following their series against HBU, the Ladyjacks will return home to play a non-conference game against North Texas on May 1 at 4:30 p.m. followed by a critical home series versus Southeastern Louisiana May 4-5.
-SFA-
