Softball Wraps up Nine-Game Road Trip at Big 12 Texas Tuesday

Tuesday, March 27

Austin, Texas

6 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Texas

Softball Wraps up Nine-Game Road Trip at Big 12 Texas Tuesday

3/26/2018 9:32:00 PM | Softball

Ladyjacks step out of league play, complete nine-game road swing and attempt to make it four wins out of the last five games

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Stephen F. Austin (17-13, 5-4 Southland) at Texas (16-13, 3-0 Big 12)
Tuesday, March 27 | 6 p.m. | McCombs Field | Austin, Texas
Watch (Longhorn Network) | Live Stats

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – For the first time in over five years, the Stephen F. Austin softball team will be taking on the Longhorns of the University of Texas when the two teams clash Tuesday evening in Austin. The Ladyjacks (17-13, 5-4 Southland) are set to face Texas (16-13, 3-0 Big 12) in a 6 p.m. game at Red & Charline McCombs Field for SFA's midweek non-conference matchup. The game will be broadcast live on the Longhorn Network, available everywhere via WatchESPN and the ESPN app, with Tyler Denning providing play-by-play of the game and Megan Willis color commentary. Live stats can also be followed via TexasSports.com.

"We're excited to play Texas," head coach Nicole Dickson said Monday. "Their pitching staff did really well against Kansas this weekend. The key for us is going to be putting the ball in play, we can't strike out. We've got to be really disciplined. The nice thing is one of the pitchers on Texas' staff, not sure if it's the one we're going to see, is very similar to the number one on Sam Houston State's staff."

SFA, who has won three of its last four games and nine of its last 13, seeks its first win over a Big 12 Conference foe since 2016. The Ladyjacks are coming off of a 3-1 week on the road and their first series win over Lamar since 2014 this past weekend. Tuesday's game will mark the end of a nine-game road trip for the Ladyjacks, playing non-conference midweek tilts at Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern and Southland Conference series at Nicholls and Lamar.

During its lengthy road swing, SFA has gone 4-4 with all three losses at Nicholls decided by a single run. The Ladyjacks earned key victories last week and had an impressive win at Texas Southern, routing the Lady Tigers 12-5 with a season-high 13 hits and scoring a season-best 12 runs.

SFA opened up its three-game conference series Friday at Lamar with a doubleheader split. In the opening game of the series, the Ladyjacks outlasted the Cardinals 6-5 in an extra-inning of play. Trailing 4-0 through four innings of play, the Ladyjacks scored five unanswered runs in the fifth through eight frames. A leadoff solo home run by junior Pima Community College transfer Margarita Corona (Tucson, Ariz.) in top of the eighth inning put SFA ahead for good as a freshman shortstop Emily Evans (Santa Fe, Texas) connected on a sacrifice fly for the Ladyjacks' sixth and final run. Lamar earned a run on the final play of the game but SFA's defense was able to throw out a base runner at home to end the game. After dropping the second game of the series 5-2 Friday night, the Ladyjacks had another impressive performance in the series finale Saturday. SFA clinched the series with a 4-1 game three win, scoring the four runs on just five hits as senior pitchers Makayla Sikes (Gilmer, Texas) and Callee Guffey (Waco, Texas) combined for 11 strikeouts while giving up just one earned run.

The Ladyjacks' triumph Saturday afternoon marked the 17th of the season for SFA, matching its win total from 2017.

Friday's game one win over Lamar was the second extra-inning victory the Ladyjacks have claimed during this year's Southland slate, after also earning a 6-5, nine-inning win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi earlier this month. Six is the magic number for SFA as the Ladyjacks are a perfect 12-0 this season when scoring six or more runs, and are 14-2 when scoring five or more. Contrarily, SFA is 2-11 when scoring three or fewer runs.

Offensively, the Ladyjacks have shown their strength. SFA's .272 batting average on the year ranks fifth in the 12-team league, while its 11 total triples is second-most, .422 slugging percentage is third and 329 total bases are fourth. SFA ranks 16th nationally and is second in the Southland in triples per game with a 0.37 average.

Sikes was tabbed as Southland Pitcher of the Week Monday afternoon after going a perfect 3-0 last week in three game starts. The senior righty tossed 17.0 total innings and earned her fifth complete game win of the season by throwing all eight innings of the Ladyjacks' come-from-behind, eight-inning game one victory at Lamar. Accumulating 16 strikeouts in the three games, Sikes held opponents to a .227 batting average and gave up just two extra-base hits. She has been SFA's top performer in the circle this season, owning a 10-5 record with a team-high 65 strikeouts in 81 and 1/3 innings of work. Appearing in 19 games so far in 2018, Sikes has made 14 starts and is tied for second in the Southland in wins and is fifth in strikeouts.

Corona is coming off of a stellar week, hitting .375 in the four games with an impressive slugging mark of .812 and an on-base percentage of .412. She closed out the series with Lamar over the weekend by providing an insurance run in the top of the seventh when she homered down the right field line to give the Ladyjacks a 4-0 game three lead. Finishing the week with three total extra-base hits, two of Corona's six hits were home runs. She now has the second-most on the team with five.

In her inaugural collegiate season, freshman second baseman standout Bryana Novegil (Houston, Texas) is leading the Southland batting average (.477), on-base percentage (.579) and total triples (5). Her on-base percentage is eighth-best nationally and five triples are tied for seventh-most in the nation, while Novegil's hitting mark ranks 11th among all NCAA Division I softball players. With a team-best 41 total hits this season, Novegil has collected the second-most in the league and is tied for 44th nationally in that category. Prior to this past weekend, she had reached base for 19 consecutive games and has already tallied a team-best 14 multi-hit games this year.

TEXAS – LONGHORNS
· Record: 16-13, 3-0 Big 12
· Texas enters Tuesday's tilt on a four game win streak after sweeping Kansas in a trio of games over the weekend. The Longhorns outscored the Jayhawks 18-4 in the three game wins.
· Prior to its sweep of Kansas, Texas shutout 25th-ranked Texas State 3-0 in Austin. The Longhorns boast a 10-8 record at McCombs Field this season with one of those defeats coming against top-ranked Washington.
· The Longhorns boast one of the toughest schedules in all of Division I softball as Texas has already played in 11 games against top-25 opponents. However, the Longhorns are 3-8 against nationally-ranked teams this season.
· Texas' defense has been on point this season as the Longhorns rank 23rd nationally and are fifth in the ultra-competitive Big 12 with a .974 fielding percentage. Additionally, the Longhorns boast an ERA of 2.74 as a pitching staff and are allowing opponents to hit just .218 against them.
· Hitting at a .253 clip as a team, Texas freshman second baseman Janae Jefferson leads the team at the plate with a .333 batting average and a team-high 29 hits. Most impressively, Jefferson is only one of three Division I softball players in the nation labeled as toughest to strikeout by the NCAA as she has not struck out in 104 total plate appearances.
· Senior right-handed pitcher Paige von Sprecken has been the Longhorn's top thrower in the circle, owning the seventh-best ERA in the Big 12 at 1.88. With a 6-5 record, Von Sprecken has dialed up four shutouts in 2018, tied for most in the league, and has struck out 50 batters.
· Texas also earned a conference pitcher of the week honor Monday as junior left-hander Brooke Bolinger was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 10 strikeouts against Kansas over the weekend. She owns a 6-4 record with a team-best 61 strikeouts and .184 opponent batter average in 14 game appearances on the season.
· In addition to von Sprecken and Bolinger, junior right-hander Erica Wright makes the Longhorns' pitching staff one of the strongest in the Big 12. Wright has tallied four saves already this season, which is the most in the conference and is tied for fifth-most nationally, and owns a 3-2 record in 11 appearances with 33 strikeouts.
· SFA is 2-13 against Texas all-time but has gone 1-1 in the two school's most recent meetings.
· The Ladyjacks shocked third-ranked Texas at McCombs Field on April 13, marking SFA's first win in the Division I era over an opponent ranked within the top five nationally. When the Ladyjacks last played against Texas, on Feb. 13, 2013, the Longhorns bested SFA 6-0 in Austin.
· The Ladyjacks' last Big 12 triumph came just two seasons ago when SFA routed Texas Tech 10-1 in six innings on March 6, 2016. The victory in Lubbock was highlighted by then sophomore catcher Taylor Fraccastoro's two homers and six RBI as the Ladyjacks secured the Texas Tech Invitational team title.

Up Next…
The Ladyjacks return to the comforts of the SFA Softball Field this weekend and begin an eight-game homestand starting Friday and Saturday, March 30-31 with a three-game series against rival Sam Houston State. SFA will take on the Bearkats in a doubleheader Friday, March 30 at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., before facing Sam Houston State Saturday, March 31 at 12 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-