ABILENE - Abilene Christian's softball team concludes its five-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against its new Southland Conference rivals from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Live stats will be made available for all three games, which start Saturday at 2 p.m. (doubleheader) and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Both the Wildcats (12-18, 1-2 SLC) and Islanders (7-24, 2-7 SLC) enter this weekend in need of a series victory. ACU was edged in two of three games last weekend at Incarnate Word before splitting a home doubleheader Tuesday vs. Hardin-Simmons, while A&M-CC is in the midst of a seven-game losing streak that includes a sweep at the hands of McNeese State and an 8-0 loss Wednesday at Texas.
ACU's received tremendous pitching over its last three games that have lowered its season ERA to 4.34 (lowest this spring since Feb. 18). And after the team surrendered 13 runs between the first two games at UIW, junior transfer
Emily Seidel came back to toss a 3-hit shutout Sunday in a 3-0 win, and then freshman
Hannah Null made Wildcat history Tuesday with a school-record 17 strikeouts in game one vs. the Cowgirls.
And even though Null ended up losing that game, 2-1, the Wildcats rebounded in game two behind senior
Peyton Mosley and Seidel. Mosley allowed one run on three hits and two walks over 4.0 innings of work to earn her 25th career win, and then Seidel recorded her first career save behind six strikeouts in three solid frames. Seidel also made a great play at home plate, tagging Sarah Truelove on the helmet as she tried to score on a wild pitch for the final out of the fifth inning.
Null's performance, which included four Ks in the seventh inning, gave her the Southland Conference season lead (114) in strikeouts over Stephen F. Austin's Carlie Thomas (112) and McNeese's Jamie Allred (104) and the fourth lowest ERA at 2.73. Her 17 punch outs also are the most by any Southland pitcher this season as the previous high of 12 was held by Thomas and Kylee Studiosa of Central Arkansas.
Offensively, ACU continues to own the highest batting average of the dozen Southland Conference schools at .322, led by the likes of
Paige Stevens who currently ranks third in the league with a .415 average (27-65) and
Lyndi Smith who is ranked among the SLC leaders in hits (33), home runs (7), RBI (28) and total bases (60).
Freshman
Taylor Brown had two stolen bases vs. HSU to move into second place in the Southland with 12 thefts, and her on-base percentage of .462 ranks eighth.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is batting .287 as a team, which ranks fifth in the league, but the Islanders' pitching staff has posted a conference worst 7.32 ERA that is nearly three runs higher than 11th-place UIW (4.87).
Liz Carter has won six of A&M-CC's seven games and has a 5.90 ERA through 115.0 innings pitched along with 53 strikeouts. Her two teammates in the rotation are a combined 1-12 with only 19 Ks.
Several Islander regulars are batting well over .300 led by Valerie Perez (.351 - 4 HR - 21 RBI) and Brittany Morse (.341 - 6 HR - 15 RBI).
