Ladyjacks Head to San Antonio for Final Southland Conference Road Series of 2018

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – For the final time of the 2018 regular season, the Stephen F. Austin softball team will play on the road as the Ladyjacks head to San Antonio, Texas, for a three-game Southland Conference series at Incarnate Word. SFA will take on the host Cardinals (12-25, 5-13 Southland) in a doubleheader Friday, April 20 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., before facing UIW in a single game Saturday, April 21 at 12 p.m. All three games will be played at Cardinals Softball Field and can be viewed live online at UIWCardinals.com, live statistics of each contest can be followed here.

The Ladyjacks (24-17, 12-6 Southland) find themselves in a four-way tie for first place in the Southland after sweeping Houston Baptist last weekend on the road. Visiting SFA earned its longest victory of the season in game one of the series against the host Huskies, claiming a 3-2 win in 10 innings for the Ladyjacks' fourth extra-inning triumph in league play this year. SFA took game two 2-1 and game three 6-1 as the Ladyjacks have now won seven of their last 10 games. Nicholls, McNeese and Southeastern Louisiana are the other three schools tied with SFA at 12-6 in conference play.

Picked to finish eighth along with Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland's preseason poll, the Ladyjacks sit one game ahead of both Northwestern State and Central Arkansas, who are tied for fifth in the standings with league marks of 11-7. Abilene Christian (10-8) is in sole possession of seventh place in the conference standings, while Lamar (9-9) and Sam Houston State (9-9) are tied for eighth.

With only nine Southland games and three series remaining, SFA is in search of its third league series sweep of the season. The Ladyjacks can make it five-straight weekends of claiming a conference series as SFA attempts to win its sixth Southland series of the year. Through six league series in 2018, the Ladyjacks have won at least two games in five of those weekends.

SFA's five Southland series wins represent the most for the program since the 2010 season, when the Ladyjacks clinched eight conference series en route to their lone regular season Southland title. Off to its best start in league play in over eight years, SFA has a chance to reach 14 conference victories for the first time since 2014. With two wins this weekend the Ladyjacks can clinch their first winning season in eight years, last doing so with a 29-10 record in 2010.

Led by senior right-handers Makayla Sikes and Callee Guffey, SFA's pitching staff has really come on strong as of late. The Ladyjacks' 2.59 earned run average ranks second in the Southland and is 56th-best nationally, while SFA is holding opponents to a .250 batting average for the third-lowest opponent hitting mark in the conference. With 232 strikeouts as a pitching staff for the second-most in the league, the Ladyjacks have gotten 97 alone from Sikes, who ranks fourth in the Southland in that category. Sikes' 2.11 ERA on the year is the third-best in the conference, while her 15 victories are tied for second-most in the league and 36th-most nationally. Guffey has collected six wins in the circle and struck out 71 batters in 79 innings of work, averaging 6.3 strikeouts per seven innings for the third-best average in the Southland.

INCARNATE WORD – CARDINALS
· Record: 12-25, 5-13 Southland (10th place)
· Owning just 12 wins overall and five Southland victories, the Cardinals went 7-12 in non-conference action with triumphs over Villanova (5-3), Alabama State (3-2), Eastern Michigan (5-3), Kansas (1-0), Texas Southern twice (8-7 and 9-3), and UTSA (4-3).
· UIW has dropped four straight and six of its last seven contests. The Cardinals own two Southland series wins on the season, defeating Central Arkansas in two out of three games in San Antonio (March 16-17) and claiming the first two games of their home series with HBU (March 29-30). UIW's fifth league win came 4-2 against Northwestern State in the opening game of its series at Cardinals Field on April 6. The Cardinals have been swept by Sam Houston State, McNeese and most recently Abilene Christian last weekend on the road.
· Owning a 7-6 record at Cardinals Field this season, UIW has gone 5-4 in conference games at home so far in 2018.
· Hitting just .221 as a team this year, which is last in the Southland, the Cardinals do not have a single player batting at or above the .300 clip. In fact, UIW has just three batters hitting at a mark over .250.
· The Cardinals' 4.72 ERA as a team is second-highest among the 12-team league as opponents are hitting at a clip of .320 against UIW, which is also second-highest in the conference.
· UIW was picked 11th in the Southland's preseason poll after finishing 11th following the 2017 regular season with a 13-40 overall record and a 6-21 league mark.
· SFA owns a 7-2 record against the Cardinals since UIW joined the league prior to the 2014 season. The Ladyjacks went 2-1 against the Cardinals a year ago in Nacogdoches, after taking two out of three games from UIW in San Antonio during the 2016 season. In 2015, SFA swept the visiting Cardinals at SFA Softball Field.

Up Next…
The Ladyjacks return to the comforts of Texas' oldest town and SFA Softball Field next weekend for a three-game set against fellow league-leader McNeese. Game one of the series will get underway Friday, April 27 at 6 p.m., before the two teams clash in a doubleheader Saturday, April 28 at 12 p.m. and 2 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

Ladyjacks Head to San Antonio for Final Southland Conference Road Series of 2018

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Players Mentioned

Callee Guffey

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 Head to San Antonio for Final Southland Conference Road Series of 2018

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Callee Guffey

Makayla Sikes

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