Five-Game Set at Houston Red & White Showcase Awaits Ladyjack Softball

Houston Red & White Showcase Tournament Central

Stephen F. Austin (7-6) vs. Mississippi Valley State (1-8)
Friday, March 2 | 3:30 p.m. | Cougar Softball Stadium | Houston, Texas
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Stephen F. Austin (7-6) at Houston (8-4)
Friday, March 2 | 6 p.m. | Cougar Softball Stadium | Houston, Texas
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Stephen F. Austin (7-6) vs. Mississippi Valley State (1-8)
Saturday, March 3 | 12:30 p.m. | Cougar Softball Stadium | Houston, Texas
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Stephen F. Austin (7-6) at Houston (8-4)
Saturday, March 3 | 5:30 p.m. | Cougar Softball Stadium | Houston, Texas
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Stephen F. Austin (7-6) vs. Southern (3-2)
Sunday, March 4 | 10 a.m. | Cougar Softball Stadium | Houston, Texas
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NACOGDOCHES, Texas – After Wednesday's scheduled home opener with Texas Southern was postponed due to inclement weather and wet field conditions, the Stephen F. Austin softball team enters its final weekend of non-conference play Friday-Sunday, March 2-4 at the University of Houston. The Ladyjacks (7-6) will take on a trio of teams at the Houston Red & White Showcase over the next three days, including the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Mississippi Valley State, tournament host Houston and another SWAC member in Southern University.

SFA is slated for a 3:30 p.m. game against Mississippi Valley State on Friday, March 2, and will battle the host Cougars in primetime road affair Friday at 6 p.m. The Ladyjacks' two games scheduled for Saturday, March 3 are against the same opponents in the same order but with game times set for 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. SFA will wrap up ply at the Houston Red & White Showcase Sunday morning with a 10 a.m. tilt against Southern.

"Houston is going to be a great opportunity," head coach Nicole Dickson said during her Monday morning press conference. "Houston is a top-30 school right now. They are fast, they have good pitching, they have power. I want to see us have good defense, pitching and quality at bats. I want to see our team put it all together this weekend. That's what this weekend is about for us. We do still have injuries and we are asking players to step up at certain positions that they're not as comfortable with, but if we can play solid defense, have good pitching and have quality at bats we're going to have a good weekend. That's what my goal is for this week, to put it all together and be consistent for all three days."

All games will be played at the 1,200-seast Cougar Softball Stadium.

With just eight days remaining before the Ladyjacks begin Southland Conference play, SFA has compiled a 7-6 record in the month of February. The seven victories this season mark the most wins for the Ladyjacks in February since the 2014 season when SFA went 8-10 in the month.

Most recently, the Ladyjacks went 1-2 at the UCA Softball Invitational in Conway, Arkansas, picking up their lone win of the tournament in a neutral-site game with Coppin State (3-2). SFA suffered an 11-1 loss in five innings to Big 12 mainstay Kansas and was defeated 7-2 in a neutral-site bout with the Summit League's South Dakota State. In eight neutral-site contests this season, the Ladyjacks have gone 6-2 to tie for the most neutral-site wins among Southland teams.

Road games have not boded quite as well for SFA through the first 13 contests of the season as the Ladyjacks have gone 1-4 in such affairs. SFA's lone road win in the month of February came in its first away game of the season, defeating Louisiana-Monroe 6-4 in game one of a doubleheader at the ULM Mardi Gras Classic thanks to a three-run homer by junior designated player Margarita Corona (Tucson, Ariz.) in the top of the seventh inning.

Freshman Bryana Novegil (Houston, Texas) has been a standout in her inaugural collegiate season, collecting a team-best 17 hits in 33 at bats and tallying six RBI through the first 13 games of 2018. Collecting 21 total bases, the second baseman ranks 12th nationally in on-base percentage with a .628 mark. Her batting average of .515 ranks 24th in the nation as she has recorded three extra-base hits and scored seven times with a slugging percentage of .636

Novegil is one of four Ladyjacks to be hitting a clip over .300 this season. Having played just six games at first base due to injury, freshman Triniti Kendzior (Deer Park, Texas) owns a batting average of .417 with five hits in 12 at bats, a slugging mark of .750 and an on-base percentage of .556. Both seniors Amber Landry (Ponchatoula, La.) and Taylor Fraccastoro (Orange, Texas) have been stalwarts for SFA. Landry has connected on 14 hits in 42 at bats (.333), while Fraccastoro has gone 13-of-40 from behind the plate (.325). With eight RBI, three doubles and two home runs, Landry holds a .548 slugging percentage and a .400 on-base percentage. Fraccastoro leads the Ladyjacks in RBI (13), total bases (26) and triples (2). She is second among Southland players in RBI per game (1.00) and runs scored per contest (0.92), while holding a .650 slugging mark and an on-base percentage of .438.

Corona, a junior Pima Community College transfer, has really emerged as a clutch hitter for SFA. The designated player knocked in a walk-off RBI single through the left side with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to will the Ladyjacks to a 3-2 victory over Coppin State last week in Arkansas. Batting at a clip of .256, Corona has amassed 11 hits, seven RBI, a double and a home run with 15 total bases and a pair of runs scored.

In the circle, right-hander Makayla Sikes (Gilmer, Texas) is off to a strong start to her senior year, owning a team-best 4-4 record and shouldering the majority of SFA's pitching with 30 innings of work. She owns a 2.33 earned run average and struck out a team-best 21 batters.

As a team, the Ladyjacks are hitting .258 on the season with 84 total hits, including 28 total extra-base hits, and 47 RBI. SFA's 0.31 triples per game rank third among conference opponents and 39th nationally.

"I thought it's what we needed," commented coach Dickson about last week's results. "We needed some adversity, we need adversity before conference play gets here. We need to see what kind of team we are and how we are going to respond."

"In order for us to be successful we have to find ways to win," continued coach Dickson. "The ways to win are to have your upperclassmen step up and be big. I think our team has done a really good job, last weekend we were 1-2 but we saw some really good things from our team. I like how they responded to adversity. Our dugout was great, they were in it and they could be even better. The best thing about this group is they don't fail and then pout about it."

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE - DEVILETTES
· Record: 1-8, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference
· Mississippi Valley State has won just one of its nine games this season, a 9-3 triumph over Miles College in its last outing. The Devilettes have been shut out in four of their eight losses and been run ruled four times as well, including three games ending after just five innings of play.
· The Devilettes and the Ladyjacks have had no common opponents so far this season.
· Only one Mississippi Valley State player is batting over the .300 mark in senior second baseman Sharia Cormier, who is hitting .304 with seven hits in 23 at bats and an RBI through nine games.
· Mississippi Valley State is batting .170 as a team and has recorded just 35 total hits and scored only 19 runs in nine contests this year.
· No pitcher on the Devilettes' pitching staff owns an ERA below 5.25 as opponents are hitting .393 against Mississippi Valley State for a team ERA of 8.57.

HOUSTON - COUGARS
· Record: 8-4, 0-0 American Athletic Conference
· Three of the Cougar's four losses this season have come by a single run and two of the four were in eight innings. Houston was defeated 5-4 at No. 6/9 Texas A&M, suffered a 1-0 loss to third-ranked Oregon and fell 4-3 (8) to Rutgers in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Cougars only other loss of the season came against Texas (7-3), also in Mexico.
· Houston is a perfect 4-0 in home games inside Cougar Softball Stadium this season. The Cougars own home wins over Yale {8-0 (5)}, Syracuse {2-1 (8)}, UNLV (2-0) and UTSA (7-0). The Cougars are on a four-game win streak after last weekend's Hilton Plaza Invitational, their first home games of the 2018 season.
· All five of Houston's top batters are hitting at a clip over .300, including sophomore third baseman Sarah Queen (.444) and sophomore second baseman Arielle James (.405) who are both batting over .400. Junior right fielder Maya Thomas (.381), senior left fielder Kaylin Crumpton (.367) and redshirt junior designated player Sarah Barker (.313) round out the Cougar's top players behind the plate.
· Houston is batting .310 as a team, which ranks 41st nationally, with 104 total hits, including 20 for extra bases, and 52 runs scored.
· The Cougars' pitching staff is 23rd in the nation with a 1.35 combined ERA, led by junior right-hander Savannah Heebner with a 4-1 record and a 1.06 ERA. Heebner has combined with sophomore righty Trystan Melancon to strike out 36 batters. The duo has pitched 62 of Houston's 83 total innings as Melancon owns a 1.45 ERA. Junior right-handed pitcher Presley Bell has tallied eight strikeouts and holds a 1.67 ERA in 21 innings of work and four game appearances.
· The Cougars' primary starting lineup is comprised of eight upperclassmen.
· SFA has not faced Houston since the 2015 season when the Ladyjacks defeated the Cougars 5-1 in the Bayou City. The Ladyjacks are 1-2 against Houston over the last 10 years.
· The Red & White Showcase is the second of four consecutive tournaments hosted by Houston.

SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY - JAGUARS
· Record: 3-3, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference
· The Jaguars have gone 1-3 in neutral-site games this season and are 2-0 in home games. Two of Southern's three losses have come by a combined four runs, falling 4-2 to Nebraska-Omaha and 5-3 to Kentucky State. The Jaguars also suffered a 14-2 setback in five innings against Virginia. Southern owns wins over Howard – 10-1 (5) and 9-5 – and Kentucky State (4-1).
· After having a doubleheader against Spring Hill College scheduled for Feb. 24 canceled, the Jaguars enter this weekend's slate of games having not played since Feb. 16. Southern is scheduled to play five games in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as part of the Hall of Fame HBCU Invitational.
· The Jaguars rank 27th nationally in hitting with a .324 batting average as a team and are 11th in slugging percentage (.561) through six games. Southern's pitching staff has given up 39 hits and 30 runs for an ERA of 4.92.
· Led by three seniors behind the plate, Five Southern batters are hitting at a clip over .300. Senior outfielder Sydney Andrew ranks 14th in the nation with a .533 batting average, while her .667 on-base percentage is fourth-best nationally. She has scored eight runs and gone 8-for-15 at the plate with a .800 slugging percentage in the Jaguars' six contests. Senior catcher Kiara Suttles is hitting .467 and slugging at a clip of .867 with a seven hits and a team-best eight RBI as senior infielder Jamani Greer owns a .400 batting average and a .750 slugging mark off of eight hits.

Up Next…
The Ladyjacks will return to the friendly confines of the SFA Softball Field next Wednesday, March 7 for their home opener against Prairie View A&M. First pitch from Nacogdoches is scheduled for 4 p.m.

For all weather-related SFA softball schedule changes throughout the 2018 spring season, be sure to keep an eye on SFAJacks.com and follow SFA softball on Facebook (SFA Softball) and Twitter (@SFA_Softball).

Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack softball throughout the season.

-SFA-

Schedule

Five-Game Set at Houston Red & White Showcase Awaits Ladyjack Softball

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Margarita Corona

Taylor Fraccastoro

Triniti Kendzior

Amber Landry

Bryana Novegil

Makayla Sikes

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Stephen F Austin

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Murray State College on Sep. 27, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Weatherford College on Oct. 4, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus University of Louisiana at Monroe on Oct. 4, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Galveston College on Oct. 10, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Galveston College on Oct. 10, 2025 at 3:30 p.m.

Five-Game Set at Houston Red & White Showcase Awaits Ladyjack Softball

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Margarita Corona

Taylor Fraccastoro

Triniti Kendzior

Amber Landry

Bryana Novegil

Makayla Sikes

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