Ladyjacks Host Rival Sam Houston State over Easter Weekend

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – After its midweek non-conference matchup at Big 12 Conference stalwart Texas was canceled Tuesday evening due to rain, the Stephen F. Austin softball team will begin an eight-game homestand this weekend by hosting rival Sam Houston State in Texas' oldest town. The Ladyjacks (17-13, 5-4 Southland) welcome the Bearkats (11-21, 4-5 Southland) to SFA Softball Field for a three-game Southland Conference series starting Friday, March 30 with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and wrapping up Saturday, March 31 with a single game at 12 p.m. All three games of the weekend series will be streamed on Facebook Live, while live statistics can be followed via SFAJacks.com.

"It's a huge rivalry and we're excited about playing at home," head coach Nicole Dickson said during her Monday morning press conference. "Being home is going to be a huge advantage for us and I expect it to be a great series. The team who plays clean is going to come out on top this weekend. Like I told my players this past weekend, 'This is a marathon, not a sprint, and you can't look past anyone'."

SFA has won three of its last four games and nine of its last 13 after going 3-1 last week on the road and earning its first series win over Lamar since 2014. Prior to Friday and Saturday's games, the Ladyjacks had been away from home for eight consecutive dates of play, facing non-conference midweek tilts at Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern and taking on Southland series at Nicholls and Lamar.

During its lengthy road swing, SFA went 4-4 with all three losses at Nicholls decided by a single run, two of which ended with walk-off doubles for the Colonels. The Ladyjacks earned key victories last week and had an impressive win at Texas Southern last Tuesday, routing the Lady Tigers 12-5 with a season-high 13 hits and a season-best 12 runs scored.

SFA opened up its three-game conference series last 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, SFA 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 the Ladyjacks ahead for good as a freshman shortstop Emily Evans (Santa Fe, Texas) connected on a sacrifice fly for SFA's sixth and final run. Lamar earned a run on the final play of the game but the Ladyjacks' 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, SFA had another impressive performance in the series finale Saturday. The Ladyjacks 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.

Last Friday's game one win over Lamar was the second extra-inning victory SFA has 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. The Ladyjacks' triumph over the Cardinals this past Saturday marked the 17th of the season for SFA, matching its win total from 2017.

Through nine games of conference play, the Ladyjacks sit tied for fifth in the league standings with reigning two-time Southland champion McNeese. SFA is just three games out from conference leader Northwestern State, who is off to an 8-1 start in league games. Both Nicholls and Central Arkansas are tied for second in the Southland standings with 7-2 league marks, while Southeastern Louisiana is fourth at 6-3 in conference play. The Ladyjacks and Cowgirls own a one-game lead on Lamar, Abilene Christian and Sam Houston state, who are all tied for seventh in the standings with a 4-5 Southland record.

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 conference in wins and is fifth in strikeouts.

Corona had a stellar week last 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 long balls 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 54th nationally in that category. She has already tallied a team-best 14 multi-hit games this year and prior to this past weekend had reached base for 19 consecutive games.

SAM HOUSTON STATE – BEARKATS
· Record: 11-22, 4-5 Southland
· Sam Houston State is on an eight-game slide after going 8-3 to start the month of March.
· The Bearkats began Southland play a perfect 4-0, including a 5-0 home shutout upset over preseason conference favorite McNeese, but have lost five-straight league contests. Sam Houston State opened up conference play with a home sweep of Incarnate Word but took just the one game against the Cowgirls in Huntsville, Texas, before losing all three games at Central Arkansas this past weekend, including a 10-4 series finale.
· Most recently, the Bearkats fell victim to Texas Southern on the road, dropping a 5-4 decision Tuesday at Memorial Park.
· Sam Houston State is hitting .248 as a team this season but .332 in Southland action, while allowing opponents to hit .288 and .254 in league play. Led by sophomore outfielder Megan McDonald at the plate, who is batting at a clip of .337 this season and is ranked as third-toughest to strikeout in the Southland, five Bearkats have hit at .350 or better through the first nine conference games. McDonald (.500), sophomore Tiffany Thompson (.462), redshirt freshman Bailey White (.400), junior Codi Carpenter (.357) and redshirt sophomore Taylor Fuselier (.350) have combined for 56 of Sam Houston State's 84 hits and 30 of the Bearkats' 30 RBI in league play.
· Leading the conference in hitting and total hits in Southland play, Sam Houston State is second in the league through nine conference games in total bases (126), tied for second in home runs (8) and third in slugging percentage (.498).
· Junior right-handed pitcher Lindsey McLeod, a preseason All-Southland Second Team selection, leads the Bearkats inside the circle with an 8-7 record in 21 appearances and a 2.43 ERA. Her five shutouts lead the Southland and are 17th-most nationally, while her 109 strikeouts are second-most in the league and rank her 44th in the nation in that category. She also leads the conference with 7.6 strikeouts per seven innings. In Southland play, McLeod owns a 3-2 record in six game appearances and has posted three shutouts and struck out 41 batters across 30 innings of work.
· Sam Houston State was chosen to finish seventh in the Southland, one spot ahead of the Ladyjacks, according to the league's preseason poll after tying for fifth a year ago with a 14-3 conference record.
· SFA has gone 17-18 against Sam Houston State over the last 10 seasons but won two of the three games in last year's series in Huntsville. The Ladyjacks dropped game one 1-0 before claiming the final two games of the series by scores of 5-2 and 3-1 for their first Southland series win of the 2017 season.
· Hosting the Bearkats in Nacogdoches just four times since 2008, SFA is seeking just its second home series win over Sam Houston State in the last 10 years. The Ladyjacks last series win over the Bearkats at SFA Softball Field came during the 2008 season.
· Sam Houston State and SFA provided one of the most memorable Southland tournament games in league history during the 2016 version of the conference championship. The Ladyjacks came back to defeat the Bearkats 14-11 on May 12, 2016, after trailing 10-3 heading into the seventh inning of the elimination bracket quarterfinals. SFA scored 11 runs off of eight hits in the top of the seventh to take their first lead of the game, nine of the runs scored during the rally coming with two outs.

Up Next…
The Ladyjacks will remain at home and take on Northwestern State Wednesday, April 4 in a midweek non-conference affair at 5 p.m. Stepping back into league action next weekend, SFA hosts Central Arkansas Friday and Saturday, April 6-7, at SFA Softball Field.

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

Ladyjacks Host Rival Sam Houston State over Easter Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Margarita Corona

Emily Evans

Callee Guffey

Bryana Novegil

Makayla Sikes

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Stephen F Austin

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Event: Softball at Nicholls on Mar. 6, 2026

Upcoming Event: Softball at Lamar University on Mar. 13, 2026

Upcoming Event: Softball versus University of the Incarnate Word on Mar. 20, 2026

Upcoming Event: Softball at Houston Christian University on Mar. 27, 2026

Upcoming Event: Softball versus Northwestern State University on Apr. 3, 2026

Ladyjacks Host Rival Sam Houston State over Easter Weekend

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Margarita Corona

Emily Evans

Callee Guffey

Bryana Novegil

Makayla Sikes

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