HEAD COACH BOBBY REEVES INTERVIEW WITH GRANT BOONE
ABILENE – Fresh off its dramatic walk-off victory Saturday vs. No. 16 Central Oklahoma, the 22nd ranked Abilene Christian softball team now has the chance to prove itself on the national stage this weekend when it takes part in the prestigious
National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division-II Leadoff Classic.
The three-day, six-game tournament takes place Feb. 15-17 at the Lincoln Park North/South Complex in Tucson, Ariz., and features three schools (Augustana, UCO and UC San Diego) from last year's NCAA Championship among the 18-team field. Other schools of note include preseason No. 6 Minnesota State Mankato, No. 23 Molloy, plus West Texas A&M and Texas Woman's of the Lone Star Conference.
Daily passes are priced at $10 for adults and $7 for children 12 and under.
The Wildcats begin play Friday with a 10 a.m./12 p.m. (MT) doubleheader vs. Grand Canyon and Nova Southeastern, and then will face Regis and New Haven Saturday at 9 and 11 a.m. (MT). Sunday's schedule is still to be determined. ACU is a combined 5-1 vs. Regis and Grand Canyon, but has yet to face either Nova or New Haven in its 17-year history.
Abilene's all-time series with Regis includes two regular season and postseason wins during the 2005 and 2006 seasons; however, the Rangers won the first meeting, 5-4, in 2004.
The Wildcats' lone game vs. Grand Canyon came in 2007 (W, 7-0).
ACU starts its week at 5-3 after going 3-1 against the Bronchos and Eastern New Mexico last weekend at Poly Wells Field. The Wildcats had no problem defeating the Zias at home, beating them by scores of 8-3 and 9-1, but were challenged to the very end in both meetings vs. the Bronchos.
UCO won the first game, 2-1, during which senior
Caitlyn Crain delivered a 118-pitch complete game vs. the defending South Central Region champions complete with four strikeouts. Crain escaped several jams throughout the night, but walked two following an error at second base in the third inning before surrendering a two-out, bases-loaded double off the left-field wall by Nicole Workman.
The Wildcats were presented several opportunities to tie or take the lead in the late innings, but instead had two runners thrown out at home plate.
The next night, ACU jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 5-4 only to see Central Oklahoma come back each time thanks to the bats of Workman and Kacie Edwards who combined for three home runs and four RBI. But in the bottom of the seventh and two out, Wildcat cleanup hitter
Lyndi Smith ended the game with one swing on, sending a 2-0 pitch well over the wall in left field. The round-tripper was Smith's second of the season and 16th of her three-year career.
As a team, ACU is batting .325 with 45 runs and 13 extra-base hits, while its pitching staff owns a 2.57 ERA. The Wildcats also have made the second-fewest number of errors in the LSC with nine.
Grand Canyon of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is off to a 9-2 start through the first two weeks of the season. Five of the Antelopes' first wins came vs. Midwestern State and Western New Mexico, and then they went 4-1 at last weekend's Desert Stinger Tournament in Las Vegas. Last year's team posted a 36-21 overall record and 21-9 mark vs. the conference.
The Sharks of Nova Southeastern are 7-2 and led by junior pitcher Jennie Von Doellen (5-2), who has struck out 45 batters through 40.2 innings pitched. Nova is part of the Sunshine State Conference and went 4-1 last week at the Eckerd College Spring Invitational, beating teams from Georgia College, Colorado Christian, Florida Southern and West Florida.
Regis is another RMAC school and is now part of the same region as the Lone Star and Heartland Conference teams. The Rangers are winless so far this year at 0-5, with all their defeats coming two weeks ago against conference teams at the RMAC Preseason Tournament. Regis lost a pair of one-run games to Metro State and Adams State as well as a 19-3 decision to UC-Colorado Springs.
This weekend marks the season debut for the New Haven Chargers, who were recently picked to finish second in the Northeast-10 Southwest Division. The Chargers finished 2012 with a 29-21 record and have advanced to the Northeast-10 Championship in its four prior seasons as a member of the conference.
