Ladyjacks Set for Final Non-Conference Tilt of Regular Season in Louisiana

Wednesday, April 24

Monroe, La.

6 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Louisiana-Monroe

Tickets

Marisa_Arriaga_Bryana_Novegil_Pre-game_ACU2019

Photo by: SFA Athletics

Ladyjacks Set for Final Non-Conference Tilt of Regular Season in Louisiana

4/23/2019 10:37:00 PM | Softball

SFA Softball steps out of Southland Conference action for final time of the 2019 regular season Wednesday night at Louisiana-Monroe

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – With its eyes set on clinching its first back-to-back 30-win season in 30 years, the SFA softball team will step out of Southland Conference play for the final time of the 2019 regular season Wednesday night in Monroe, Louisiana. The Ladyjacks (29-17), who are seeking to become just the second SFA squad to win 30 games for consecutive seasons in the program's NCAA Division I era, will wrap up a lengthy road trip with a 6 p.m. first pitch at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Wednesday night's non-conference road affair will be streamed live via Warhawks All-Access, while in-game statistics can be followed by visiting ULMWarhawks.com. As usual, in-game updates will be made available via SFA softball's Twitter account, @SFA_Softball.

The final regular-season midweek game will be the second meeting between the Ladyjacks and the host Warhawks (9-37) after SFA shutout Louisiana-Monroe 4-0 in its home opener back on Feb. 13.

Fresh off of clinching their second-straight winning season over the weekend, the Ladyjacks will complete up a very successful eight-game road trip Wednesday in Monroe. SFA has posted a 6-1 record during its current road swing and has won nine of its last 10 games away from home. Since March 29, the Ladyjacks have dropped just one road contest and are now 12-12 on the season in true road games, which includes four outings at top-10 ranked the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and LSU.

LAST TIME OUT
Taking two out of three games over the weekend at Abilene Christian, SFA secured its fifth Southland series win of the season and punched its ticket to the 2019 Southland Softball Tournament, held May 7-10 at Lady Demon Diamond in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The Ladyjacks swept the host Wildcats in a Friday night doubleheader, 2-1 and 10-3, before coming up a run short in a nine-inning thriller Saturday afternoon (6-5). In the series opener, a two-out RBI single to left field by junior left fielder Madison Clements put SFA ahead 2-1 in the top of the seventh inning as sophomore designated player Triniti Kendzior scored the game-winning run. The nightcap of the doubleheader featured an offensive eruption from the Ladyjacks as SFA lined a season-high 17 hits and scored 10 runs. The Ladyjacks scored in all but one inning and six different batters registered multiple hits, including a career-best four RBI performance from freshman right fielder Alex Hedspeth. After an opening-inning RBI single, Hedspeth knocked in an RBI sacrifice fly to left field in the top of the third and finished off the night with a two RBI double to left center field in the top of the seventh, giving SFA its final two runs of the game.

HOME RUN RITA
Senior first baseman Margarita Corona is having a breakout year in her second season as a Ladyjack after transferring in from Pima Community College. She had one of her best performances donning the Purple and White this past weekend in Abilene, going 4-for-4 at the plate with a trio of runs scored, an RBI and a walk in SFA's 10-3 rout of the Wildcats Friday night. After registering two singles and a double through the first four innings of play, the Tucson, Arizona (Tucson High Magnet School), native launched her 11th home run of the season some 40 feet beyond the center field wall to lead off the sixth inning, putting the Ladyjacks ahead 7-2. Corona leads the Ladyjacks in batting (.372), RBI (32), home runs (11), on-base percentage (.470), slugging (.679) and total bases (93), while tied for the most hits on the team (51) and second in doubles (9). Ranked second in the 12-team conference in home runs per game, Corona leads the Southland and is ranked 70th among all Division I softball players in total bases. She also leads the league in slugging percentage and ranks among conference leaders and is among the nation's top 140 players in hits, on-base percentage and walks per game. Her 11 home runs are just one shy of the single-season program record, which was set at 12 by Briana Bishop in 2009.

WILLING WILBUR
Freshman right-handed pitcher Kassidy Wilbur is having quite the inaugural college campaign on the diamond and last Thursday she gained even more national attention by being named to the 2019 Schutt Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Freshman of the Year Top 25 watch list. She became the first Ladyjack in program history to be named to the NFCA Freshman of the Year Top 25 and is the first softball player from the Southland to earn a spot on the national award list in the last four years. Wilbur has already notched 15 complete game wins inside the circle and owns five shutouts. The Bridge City, Texas (Bridge City HS), native is among the nation's top hurlers in several statistical categories, including ranking ninth in total strikeouts (220), 36th in strikeouts per seven innings (8.5), 46th in earned run average (1.74), 48th in victories (16) and 58th in hits allowed per seven innings (4.98). Touting a 16-11 record on the rubber in 2019, Wilbur's 220 strikeouts in 30 appearances this season are only 73 shy of the single-season program record, which was set in 1985 by Pam Clay (293), with seven regular season games to go. Two of her complete game shutouts this season came against nationally-ranked Power Five programs as she tossed a two-hit, 1-0 shutout at then 24th-ranked Mississippi State (Feb. 10) to help SFA capture the 2019 Bulldog Kickoff Classic. A few weeks later, Wilbur matched that performance by handing then 16th-ranked Indiana its first loss of 2019 with another two-hit, 1-0 complete game shutout. The Hoosiers entered the game as one of only six unbeaten teams in the country through three and a half weeks of the regular season. The righty was named Southland Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 12, March 18 and March 25, while also being tabbed USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week on Feb. 12 following a near-perfect start to her collegiate career. Posting an unblemished 4-0 record across the opening weekend, Wilbur held an unscathed 0.00 ERA for the week with three complete game wins. Not allowing an earned run in 22 innings of work, Wilbur struck out 32 batters and gave up only one extra-base hit. In her first collegiate career start, Wilbur fanned 15 batters to set the program record for most strikeouts by a Ladyjack making her debut.

LETHAL KRIESEL
Wilbur is not the only Ladyjack newcomer who has been impressive inside the circle for SFA this season as junior righty Ashley Kriesel now owns 11 wins inside the circle and has claimed seven complete game victories. She has already collected a no-hitter (Feb. 16 versus Jackson State) and a save (Feb. 20 against Texas Southern) in her first year as a Ladyjack. Two weeks ago, Kriesel was outstanding by tallying 23 strikeouts in 12 innings of work and two start starts. In a 10-1, run-rule rout at Texas Southern that Wednesday, Kriesel struck out 10 and walked just two before matching her career high in strikeouts at the University of the Incarnate Word during the weekend's road series. Picking up a 3-0 complete game shutout in game two of the Southland series in San Antonio, Kriesel struck out 13 and didn't allow a walk in 26 batters faced. Kriesel currently ranks 42nd nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (8.3) and is among the nation's top 90 in both total strikeouts (126) and hits allowed per seven innings (5.48), while ranking among league leaders in all three statistical categories. Led by Wilbur and Kriesel, SFA's pitching staff ranks fifth nationally in total strikeouts (370) and is 44th in the nation and second in the Southland with a 2.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Furthermore, the Ladyjacks' 2.44 team ERA is the 37th-lowest in the country and third-lowest in the conference.

ABOUT LOUISIANA-MONROE
Head coach Molly Fichtner, a former standout at Southeastern Conference mainstay Alabama, is in her first season at ULM after spending a year as an assistant coach at East Carolina. She has guided the Warhawks to a 9-37 overall record and a 5-15 mark in Sun Belt Conference play thus far in 2019. Picked to finish eighth in the Sun Belt's preseason poll, ULM has lost eight of its last 10 games but earned its league series win of the season this past weekend by taking two of three games from South Alabama. The Warhawks posted 30 runs in the three-game series, claiming a 16-11 victory in the opener and clinching the series 12-9 in the decisive game three. Most recently, ULM was run-ruled 8-0 in five innings by 10th-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Tuesday night.

Up Next…
The Ladyjacks return to the friendly confines of SFA Softball Field and Nacogdoches this weekend after three weeks away from home, hosting Northwestern State for a three-game Southland series, Friday and Saturday, April 26-27. SFA will take on the visiting Lady Demons in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Friday, April 27, before holding senior day Saturday, April 27 with game three of the series at 12 p.m.

Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack softball throughout the 2019 season.

-SFA-