Softball on road to No. 10 Arizona for Wildcat Invitational

ACU vs. Boston College: Live Stats | Video
vs. Arizona: Live Stats | Video
vs. Ball State: Live Stats | Video
vs. North Dakota State: Live Stats | Video
vs. Drake: Live Stats | Video
 

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ABILENE -  Abilene Christian softball visits the University of Arizona and Hillenbrand Stadium this weekend for the three-day, five-game Wildcat Invitational, where they Wildcats will face teams from Boston College, Ball State, North Dakota State and Drake in addition to 10th-ranked Arizona.

ACU begins competition Friday at 9 a.m. mountain time vs. the BC Eagles (3-1), which went 30-23 last season and 12-9 within the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wildcats will then have to wait several hours before taking on the tournament hosts, who are off to a 5-0 start and coming off a 2016 campaign in which they won 40 games.

The ACU vs. Arizona game begins at 5 p.m. MT.

Saturday's schedule features ACU vs. Ball State at 9 a.m. and North Dakota State at 1 p.m. Both of these schools went 1-4 during their opening weekend with the Bison going to Austin to play Arkansas and North Carolina, while the Cardinals went to Lafayette, La., to play the Ragin' Cajuns, DePaul Blue Demons and Iowa State.

North Dakota State is coming a fine 2016 season in which they 39 games and went undefeated vs. the Summit League at 17-0. Ball State compiled a 22-32 mark last spring and posted an 8-16 mark vs. the MAC.

ACU's Sunday opponent is Drake, which went 30-24 overall and 17-8 vs. the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs and Wildcats play their game at 11 a.m. local time.

The Wildcats (3-3) won half of their games at Texas State last weekend, including a 1-0 win over the Bobcats' 30-game winner Randi Rupp, a 3-1 decision over Iowa that featured two home runs by senior Casey-May Huff, and a 10-0 run-rule victory vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

ACU posted a 2.43 earned-run average in San Marcos, with two shutouts and 39 strikeouts. Redshirt junior Hannah Null punched out 10 batters in 13.2 innings of work and scored the victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and freshman Sidney Holman – an honorable mention for Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week – posted a 2-1 record with 28 Ks and complete-game victories vs. the Bobcats and Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Wildcat offense batted just .224 but clubbed five home runs and scored 18 runs. Huff twice went deep vs. Iowa, Brianna Barnhill cracked a 3-run round-tripper to clinch the run-rule victory vs. the Islanders, and Peyton Hedrick and Holly Neese went back-to-back in the first inning vs. Rupp last Sunday.

Neese was the Wildcats' leading hitter with a .412 (7-17) batting average with four runs, two RBI, a double, home run and stolen base.