Softball | 4/7/2015 2:55:00 PM
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Live Stats vs. SFA: (
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ABILENE - Abilene Christian softball returns to Poly Well Field Wednesday night for the start of a five-game homestand that features neighboring Hardin-Simmons and Southland Conference rivals Stephen F. Austin.
The ACU and HSU doubleheader starts at 5 p.m. SFA and the Wildcats will begin their series Friday at 4 p.m. (DH) and will try to conclude it Saturday at noon as there is a 90-percent chance of rain Saturday.
All games will offer live stats; however, only Wednesday's double-dip with the Cowgirls will be live streamed on ACUSports.com.
Seth Wilson and
Hannah Null will provide the play-by-play and commentary.
Null, a sophomore who is injured this season, pitched brilliantly in her start vs. HSU last season behind a program-single game record 17 strikeouts. The Highland Village, Texas, native went into the seventh with 13 Ks but managed to register a rare four-strikeout inning as the first batter reached on a wild pitch after missing on a 2-2 pitch.
The Wildcats (7-26, 3-12 Southland) are coming off another tough conference weekend in which they lost two of three games at Incarnate Word. ACU won the first game in splendid fashion, 7-0, but after jumping out to a pair of early leads lost both the second game of Friday's doubleheader, 7-3, and Saturday's rubber match, 10-2.
Senior
Emily Seidel tossed her second complete game shutout at UIW in as many years in the series opener, limiting the Cardinals to four hits while striking out three. Unfortunately, she couldn't provide additional relief in game two as she allowed two unearned runs in 0.2 innings of work, and in game three, she watched a 2-0 lead disappear as UIW sent 10 batters to the plate during a five-run first.
Offensively, freshman shortstop
Peyton Hedrick continued her tear against conference pitching by hitting .500 (4-for-8) with a home run, two runs and two RBI. She also drew a walk, stole a base and was credited with a sacrifice hit.
Despite seeing her batting average steadily rise every week since mid-March, Hedrick still ranks second to Southeastern Louisiana's Katie Lacour in this category, .472 to .455. The Forney, Texas native also is among the league's top-five leaders in slugging (.772) and on-base percentage (.500), stolen bases (9) and hits (46), while her seven home runs are tied for ninth.
ACU hit .291 as a team in San Antonio with six of its starters batting .333 or higher. Rookie
Alyson Bishoff led all Wildcats with three RBI, while classmates
Baylee Travers,
Holly Neese and
Brianna Barnhill each ripped three hits. Sophomore
Taylor Brown also hit well, going 4-for-11 with a triple (her fifth of the spring) and two runs scored.
Hardin-Simmons, which split last year's doubleheader with the Wildcats, enters this week's twinbill at 17-11 overall and 14-10 vs. the American Southwest Conference. The Cowgirls were recently riding a six-game winning streak, but had it snapped while going for a three-game sweep at LeTourneau on April 3.
HSU is hitting .343 as a team with nine home runs and 179 runs scored led by junior Sydnie Darden (.464), freshman Ashley Brown (.426) and sophomore Lauren Williams (.414). In the circle, junior Tori Rodriguez has won 10 of her 11 starts to go along with 36 strikeouts and a 2.55 ERA.
Stephen F. Austin finally earned its first Southland series victory last weekend vs. Houston Baptist, winning two of three vs. the Huskies after starting the season at 2-9. Those wins lifted the Ladyjacks season and conference marks to 11-25 and 4-10, but they'll first take on Texas Southern Tuesday and Prairie View A&M Wednesday before making the trip to Abilene.
SFA is batting .217 on the season and has only one everyday starter - Brittany Lewis (.345) batting above .300, and their four-woman pitching staff has a combined ERA of 4.78. Cailee Guffey has pitched the most innings for the Ladyjacks this spring (102.1) and is among the league leaders with 79 strikeouts.
