Weather Alters SFA vs. McNeese Series
4/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Stephen F. Austin (17-27, 9-9) at McNeese (32-16, 18-3)
Cowgirls Diamond • Lake Charles, Louisiana
Thursday, April 28 – Friday, April 29
Thursday: 6:00 p.m. Live Stats | Watch
Friday: 3:00 p.m. Live Stats | Watch
Friday: 5:00 p.m. Live Stats | Watch | Listen
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin softball team goes on the road for their final two series of the 2017 season. Their first road trip will be out to Lake Charles, La. to face the Cowgirls of McNeese. The three-game series was originally set for Thursday and Friday, but due to weather forecasts the series has been moved up a day. The first game will now get underway on Thursday, April 27, followed by a doubleheader on Friday. The first game at the Cowgirl Diamond is slated for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch. The doubleheader is set to start at 3:00 p.m.
The Ladyjacks currently sit sixth in the conference (9-9) after the two wins over Incarnate Word this past weekend. SFA is ranked ninth in the conference for its batting average (.241), slugging percentage (.333), and 275 total hits. Leading the Ladyjacks is senior Brittany Lewis who is seventh in the league for her .348 batting average. Lewis also sits fifth for doubles (10) and is tied for sixth for homeruns (6). Freshman Kiriany Hornberger bumped herself into the top ten standings after slugging two home runs last weekend (.336).
On the pitching side, junior Callee Guffey is ranked fourth in the conference for her 1.58 ERA, and has kept her opponents to a .229 batting average, ninth lowest in the league. She has struck out a total of 85 batters from the 506 she has faced and has four shut-outs on her resume.
The last time McNeese and SFA met was in the second round of the 2016 Southland Tournament. A five-run fifth inning for the Cowgirls proved too much for the Ladyjacks to overcome. Junior Taylor Fraccastoro swung a two RBI homer to cut the Cowgirls lead to one, 3-2, in the fourth inning, but the Cowgirl broke free in the fifth scoring five off two hits and three SFA errors. The loss was SFA first in the double-elimination tournament, so the punch did not force SFA out, but it gave them a 1-1 setback.
Scouting McNeese: McNeese currently sits at the top of the leader board with only three conference losses. One of those was from the 2-1 series against Lamar last weekend. The Cowigrl took the 6-1 loss in the first game, but then came back in force in game two, taking a 10-2 win in five innings. The series deciding game went to McNeese, 7-3. The win was solidified by a walk-off grand slam from Morgan Carton.
Next Up: The final conference series for the Ladyjacks will the following weekend against Abilene Christian. SFA will travel out to Abilene on Friday, May 5 for a single-game, and then the doubleheader will follow on Saturday.
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