Softball | 2/18/2015 10:33:00 AM
Tournament Central PageABILENE - Abilene Christian athletics has faced dozens of nationally recognized programs across all sports since its move into NCAA Division I Athletics two years ago, but none have been ranked as high as the teams softball is preparing to face this weekend at the Baylor Invitational.
On the Wildcats' docket at Getterman Stadium will be two games against North Texas, plus one against the defending Conference USA Champions from Tulsa, and one each vs. 2014 College World Series semifinalists Baylor and Oregon.
The Ducks comes into this weekend's invitational with a No. 2 national ranking, three first-place votes and a 6-0 record, while the seventh-ranked Bears are off to a 9-0 start.
Tulsa, which was ranked No. 22 last week, fell out of the USA Today/NFCA DI poll after losing a pair of one-run games to Michigan State and Florida Atlantic at the FAU Strike-Out Cancer Tournament. The Golden Hurricane rebounded from those defeats with three consecutive wins over Maryland, Drexel and Providence.
The Mean Green won 31 games last season and reached the second round of the C-USA Championship before being ousted, 7-1, by Tulsa. This season, North Texas, has won only 3 of 10 games with a handful of losses coming against No. 15 Washington and No. 21 Arizona State.
The Wildcats (3-4) are on a three-game winning streak following last Friday's doubleheader sweep of Prairie View A&M by scores of 8-0 and 6-2. Senior
Emily Seidel earned Southland Conference honorable mention for Pitcher of the Week after winning both games vs. the Panthers complete with 14 strikeouts.
Seidel tied her career single-game high with nine strikeouts and stranded six runners in game one, which was run-ruled after 4.5 innings. The Burbank, Calif., native then struck out five more Panthers in the nightcap after relieving
Julia Montoya with one out and bases loaded.
Seidel allowed a go-ahead run to score on a sac fly to center but got the lead back for good on fifth-inning home run by
Kaleigh Singleton. Later in the game, Seidel left the bases loaded with two outs in fifth and stranded runners at the corners in the sixth before pitching a perfect seventh.
Seidel currently ranks second in the Southland Conference with 29 strikeouts and fifth with a 2.51 earned-run average. Central Arkansas' Kylee Studioso is the league's strikeout leader with 37 though 40.1 innings pitched
Singleton had a solid series against the Panthers, going 4-for-6 with a double, home run and six RBI - four of which were in game two. She is hitting .600 for the Wildcats through six starts and leads the team with eight RBI and five doubles.
The Wildcats are batting .310 as a team, which has them ranked second to Southeastern Louisiana (.362) in the Southland Conference.
BaylorBears.com will offer live stats for all 12 games of the Baylor Invitational and live video for all five of the Bears' home games, including their contest vs. the Wildcats, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 21.
ACU begins play Friday morning with a 9:30/11:45 a.m. doubleheader vs. North Texas and Baylor. Saturday, the Wildcats first will take on Tulsa at 2 p.m. before battling the Bears, and on Sunday, they'll have a rematch vs. the Mean Green at 10 a.m.
