Texas Shootout Tournament Central
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's softball team will face its first NCAA D-I opponents since 1998 beginning Thursday night at the 2014 Texas Shootout hosted by North Texas.
The four-day, six-team tournament also includes Texas State, Prairie View A&M and ACU's new Southland Conference rivals from Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin.
The Wildcats' first game is Thursday at 7 p.m. vs. the host Mean Green (7-3) of Conference USA. They'll then face the Sun Belt's Texas State (8-3) Friday at 3 p.m. and play a doubleheader Saturday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. vs. the Bearkats (1-5) and Ladyjacks (3-7).
Sunday's schedule will be determined by the tournament's standings. The game times listed are 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
ACU has faced seven schools since 1997 that currently have D-I softball programs, but the Wildcats haven't played a true D-I opponent since 1998 when they met both Harvard and Texas Tech. Both UC Davis and Cal State Bakersfield were DII schools when they last played the Wildcats in 2002 and 1998, respectively, as was Nebraska Omaha in 2011, and Grand Canyon and Incarnate Word in 2013.
All three Southland schools in Denton this weekend are off to rough starts, including the 2-5 Wildcats. ACU started the year with a 2-3 homestand vs. Texas Lutheran and Oklahoma Christian but were then swept Tuesday by Western New Mexico and former NAIA powerhouse Lubbock Christian.
In spite of these recent defeats, the Wildcats still have freshman pitcher
Hannah Null ranked among the Southland leaders in several categories. The rookie currently ranks seventh in the league with a 2.82 ERA, fifth with 22 strikeouts and ninth with 22.1 innings pitched. She also has a .238 opponents batting average.
Carrying the Wildcats' offense, meanwhile, is senior
Lyndi Smith, who ranks ninth in the Southland with a .739 slugging percentage as she has counted two doubles and two home runs among her nine hits.
ACU is hitting .291 as a team, which ranks them sixth in the 12-team conference, but its .968 fielding percentage is tied for first place with league favorite Northwestern State.
