Friday, March 23
Beaumont, Texas
4 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin
at
Lamar
Lamar Awaits Ladyjack Softball in Beaumont for Second-Straight Southland Road Series
3/22/2018 7:57:00 PM | Softball
SFA seeks first conference series road win of 2018 in battle of 3-3 Southland squads
Stephen F. Austin (15-12, 3-3 Southland) at Lamar (17-12, 3-3 Southland)
Friday, March 23 | 4 p.m. | LU Softball Complex | Beaumont, Texas
Friday, March 23 | 6 p.m. | LU Softball Complex | Beaumont, Texas
Saturday, March 24 | 2 p.m. | LU Softball Complex | Beaumont, Texas
Watch | Live Stats
Friday, March 23 | 4 p.m. | LU Softball Complex | Beaumont, Texas
Friday, March 23 | 6 p.m. | LU Softball Complex | Beaumont, Texas
Saturday, March 24 | 2 p.m. | LU Softball Complex | Beaumont, Texas
Watch | Live Stats
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – For the second consecutive weekend the Stephen F. Austin softball team will play a three-game Southland Conference series on the road, this week at the LU Softball Complex in Beaumont, Texas, against Lamar. The Ladyjacks (15-12, 3-3 Southland) will take on the host Cardinals (17-12, 3-3 Southland) in a doubleheader Friday, March 23 at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., followed by a single game Saturday, March 24 at 2 p.m. All games can be viewed online live via the Big Red Sports Network with live stats available on LamarCardinals.com.
SFA is seeking its first conference series road win of 2018 after falling in three one-run games last weekend at Nichols, including suffering two defeats in walk-off fashion during last Friday's doubleheader with the Colonels.
"I feel like it is going to be a very even matchup," head coach Nicole Dickson commented about the Lamar series. "They have more speed than we do and they are going to be a little bit more aggressive on the bases. I think it's going to be a lot like the Nicholls series, because every single game is going to be tight and close. It's going to come down to who is tough and who steps up."
The Ladyjacks are 3-3 in league play along with both Lamar and Abilene Christian, sitting tied for sixth in the conference standings. In its Southland opening series, SFA went 3-0 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Nacogdoches to earn its first sweep in league play since April of 2015.
It has been nearly an entire calendar year since the Ladyjacks have earned a Southland series road win, their last coming on April 1, 2017, when SFA won the final two games of its series with Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. In fact, the Layjacks last conference game road win took place on April 8, 2017, when SFA defeated Central Arkansas 5-2 in its series final in Conway, Arkansas.
"There are definitely going to be highs and lows over the course of three games," continued coach Dickson. "I feel like the team that is most consistent, plays the hardest and is more mentally tough is going to come out on top in this series."
Most recently, the Ladyjacks earned their third true road victory of the season Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Park in Houston, Texas, by upending the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Texas Southern 12-5. SFA had an offensive eruption, lining a season-high 13 hits for a season-best 12 runs. The Ladyjacks scored in four of the seven innings and relied on a big five-run third and four-run sixth to remain out in front of the host Lady Tigers.
With Tuesday's triumph, SFA improved to 11-0 on the season when scoring six or more runs in a contest. Conversely, the Ladyjacks are 2-10 this year when held to three runs or less.
Freshman standout second baseman Bryana Novegil (Houston, Texas) returned to her impressive batting numbers during SFA's midweek matchup as she finished 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and an RBI. Leading the Ladyjacks at the plate this season with a remarkable .493 batting average, which ranks eighth nationally and No. 1 in the Southland, Novegil's five triples this season is the fourth-most in the nation. Her on-base percentage of .596 is the sixth-best nationally and leads the league, while her team-best 37 hits is the second-most in the conference and ranks her 50th in the nation in that category.
Hitting .272 as a team, three other Ladyjack hitters are batting at a clip over .300, including senior third baseman Amber Landry (Ponchatoula, La.) (.326), freshman outfielder Katherine Thompson (Spring, Texas) (.314) and senior catcher Taylor Fraccastoro (Orange, Texas) (.313). Leading SFA in RBI (27), extra-base hits (14) and runs scored (24), Fraccastoro ranks among the nation's top 25 with three triples and leads the Southland in RBI per game (1.00).
The Ladyjacks' pitching staff owns a team earned run average of 3.06 and got 12 combined strikeouts from the senior duo of Makayla Sikes (Gilmer, Texas) and Callee Guffey (Waco, Texas) in the victory over SWAC favorite Texas Southern Tuesday. Sikes (8-5) picked up her team-best eighth win of the season against the Lady Tigers, striking out five in four complete innings. She has collected a team-high 54 strikeouts in 68 and 1/3 innings of work this season and has held opponents to a .245 batting average. Meanwhile, Guffey (4-5) earned her first save of 2018 Tuesday, striking out a season-high seven in three innings of relief.
LAMAR – CARDINALS
· Record: 17-12, 3-3 Southland
· The Cardinals also own a 3-3 mark in league play after being swept at Northwestern State to begin Southland action and sweeping Houston Baptist on the road last weekend. This weekend will serve as Lamar's conference home opening series.
· Lamar owns an 8-3 record at LU Softball Complex this season, its losses coming against now No. 1 Washington (9-1 and 8-0) and Louisiana Tech (3-2).
· When scoring four or more runs in a game this season, the Cardinals are a perfect 14-0. Contrarily, when held to three runs or less Lamar is just 3-12.
· The Cardinals are hitting .273 as a team and have three starters who are batting at a mark over .300. Junior shortstop Savana Guidry leads the team with a hitting clip of .362, ranking third in the Southland in toughest to strike out, while junior designated player Taylor Davis (.328) owns a team-best .506 on-base percentage for fifth-best in the league. Davis has been walked 23 times this season and is seventh nationally and tops in the conference in walks per game (0.85). Junior second baseman Kelly Meeuwsen holds a .319 batting average and is slugging at a team-high mark of .549.
· Lamar is one of the top three teams in the Southland at stealing bases, having claimed 50 stolen bases already this season on 63 attempts. The Cardinals rank 34th nationally in stolen bases per game (1.72) and are third in the conference in that category. Guidry has been Lamar's top base runner so far with 11 stolen bases on 13 attempts. She ranks eighth in the Southland in stolen bases per contest (0.39), while sophomore center fielder Shannon Klaus has collected 10 bags on 11 stolen-base attempts. A total of 13 different Cardinal players have recorded a stolen base this season.
· Defensively, Lamar has turned a Southland-best 17 double plays this season, ranking fifth in the nation in double plays per game (0.59).
· In six conference games the Cardinals are hitting at a clip of just .217, while giving up six home runs and owning an ERA of 3.77.
· Lamar was picked to finish fourth in Southland according to the league's preseason poll after going 34-31 overall and 17-10 in conference play in 2017. The Cardinals finished fourth in the final Southland standings and reached the inaugural National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) title game.
· SFA went 1-2 against Lamar in Nacogdoches last year and owns a 6-4 record over the Cardinals since Lamar reignited its softball program in 2013. The Ladyjacks last series win versus the Cardinals was in 2014 when SFA swept Lamar at SFA Softball Field.
Up Next…
The Ladyjacks wrap up their nine-game road swing Tuesday, March 27 at Texas in Austin with a 6 p.m. first pitch, broadcast live on the Longhorn Network. SFA will then return to the comforts of SFA Softball Field next weekend, Friday and Saturday, March 30-31, for a Southland series against rival Sam Houston State.
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-
Players Mentioned
C/UTIL
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball2.1.24 | Axe 'Em Insider Ep. 24 x Softball
Friday, February 02
Softball - Stephen F. Austin - 02/22/2017: Stephen F. Austin
Wednesday, February 22
Softball - Stephen F. Austin - 02/22/2017: Stephen F. Austin
Wednesday, February 22
SFA Completes Epic Comeback: SFA Softball
Thursday, May 12
