Texas Tech Invitational Tournament Central
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's softball team will visit Texas Tech this weekend for the first time since 1998 as part of a three-team, round-robin tournament against the Red Raiders and Southland Conference rival Sam Houston State.
Southern University was supposed to be part of the Texas Tech Invitational before deciding to pull out Wednesday evening. Their exit reduces the Wildcats' work load from five to three games, starting with a Friday 7:30 p.m. game against the Bearkats (4-7). ACU will face Sam Houston once more Saturday at 2:30 p.m. before battling Texas Tech (10-5) Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The Wildcats and Red Raiders are scheduled to meet again later in the week on March 7 at 5:30 p.m. for the start of the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic. This tournament also gives ACU a game vs. Texas-Arlington Saturday at 10 a.m.
Live stats will be made available for each game via
TexasTech.com.
ACU has encountered three schedule changes during its first month on the field. Because of inclement weather, ACU's home doubleheader against Prairie View A&M was rescheduled for March 11 in Prairie View, Texas, and earlier this week, ACU and crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons decided to postpone their twin bill to March 26.
The Wildcats (3-9), however, were able to play a full slate of games last weekend at the Texas Shootout and came out of it with a 1-4 record as ACU faced its first true NCAA Division I opposition in 16 years. Their list of opponents included the Southland's Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, Texas State of the Sun Belt, North Texas of Conference USA and Prairie View of the SWAC.
The ACU offense hit .293 at North Texas' Lovelace Field with 17 runs and 12 extra-base hits, including home runs off the bat of senior
Madison Buckley and freshman
Kyla Simmons. Buckley finished the five-game set with a .357 batting average and tied sophomore
Cara Hoover for the most RBI with three, while sophomore
Demi McNulty posted a .429 batting average with five runs scored and a pair of doubles.
In the circle, freshman
Hannah Null delivered a gem vs. Prairie View A&M on Sunday, striking out a career high 10 batters in a five-hit, 2-0 shutout.Â
Null is currently ranked among the Southland Conference top-10 leaders in several pitching categories, including ERA (3.38), innings pitched (39.1), strikeouts (42), games started (6), shutouts (2) and opposing batting average (.275).
Even though the Wildcats are off to a slower than expected start, so is the rest of the Southland Conference as nine of its 12 teams sit below .500 to begin the weekend. McNeese State has been the winningest team so far, but the Cowgirls are only three games above .500 at 10-7, while Incarnate Word is 8-7 and in the midst of a six-game losing streak.
Northwestern State - the preseason favorite to win the conference title - has a 7-7 record.
ACU's season batting average of .292 is the fourth best mark in the league following games played on Feb. 23, while its 5.18 ERA ranks seventh.Â
