ABILENE – The No. 22 Abilene Christian softball team begins the home portion of its 2013 schedule this Friday and Saturday with its annual Whitten Inn Classic. This year's invitational has the Wildcats taking on Lone Star Conference rival Eastern New Mexico (0-5) and No. 16 Central Oklahoma (0-0) of the MIAA.
Action begins Friday at Poly Wells Field with the Bronchos taking on the Zias at 2 p.m., followed by the Wildcats vs. Eastern at 4 p.m. and vs. UCO at 6 p.m.
The Zias will face ACU and Central Oklahoma in back-to-back games to start Saturday's slate of games at 12 and 2 p.m. The Wildcats and Bronchos will then conclude the classic with their first meeting since 2011 at 4 p.m.
ACU is 8-8 all-time vs. UCO, but have not defeat the Bronchos since capturing a 7-2 decision during the 2009 Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The two schools could have faced each other several times last season, but a February doubleheader in Abilene was cancelled due to cold, and then their paths failed to cross at the NCAA South Central Regional. UCO finished last year 46-9, won the regional title over Angelo State, and made it all the way to the NCAA Division II World Series where it was bested twice by UC San Diego in the national semifinals.
Coming back to lead the Bronchos from last year's record-setting team are all-American Kacie Edwards and returning starters Hannah Justus, Kaylee Brunson, Devyn Frazier, Ashley Noles and Amanda McClelland.
The Zias last season went 15-34 and 7-20 vs. the conference to place ninth out of 10 teams, but played the Wildcats close during their three-game series. ACU won the first two games, 4-1 and 6-2, before dropping the third, 4-2.
ACU leads its all-time series vs. Eastern New Mexico, 35-24, and will visit Portales, N.M. a final time during the weekend of May 19-20.
The Zias were with ACU last weekend in San Antonio for the St. Mary's Spring Invitational, where they went 0-5 and used four different pitchers who combined to average seven runs and six walks allowed per game.
Aurelia Sandoval and Kuuleiokealoaha VonSchriltz led all Zia hitters with .333 batting averages last weekend, but the offense as a whole only hit .238 and averaged just 2.2 runs per game in losing to the likes of Lubbock Christian, St. Edward's, Texas-Permian Basin, St. Mary's and Texas A&M-International.
ACU went 2-2 during its first weekend of the 2013 campaign – it's last as a member of NCAA D-II. The Wildcats began play with a 10-0 win over Texas A&M-International, but then lost to Lubbock Christian (3-1) and St. Edward's (8-0) before rebounding with a 10-2 win vs. Texas-Permian Basin.
Seniors
Shelby Hall and
Caitlyn Crain combined on the shutout of International. Crain also finished the weekend with a team-best ten strikeouts.
Freshman
Demi McNulty paced the offense with a .500 batting average (5-10) with two runs, double, and RBI, while four additional Wildcats all batted over .400:
Sara Vaughn,
Heather Peacock,
Keanna Winkfield, and
Anna Jones.
Courtney Flanary had the most RBI with five.
Live stats will be provided for all six of this weekend's games at Poly Wells Field.
