This Week in ACU Softball

ABILENE – Abilene Christian faces one of its toughest opponents to close out the regular season this weekend, visiting Grand Canyon for three games.
 
ACU at GCU | Friday | 6:30 p.m. (CT) | Phoenix, Ariz. | ESPN+ | Live Stats
ACU at GCU | Friday | 9 p.m. (CT) | Phoenix, Ariz. | ESPN+ | Live Stats
ACU at GCU | Friday | 3 p.m. (CT) | Phoenix, Ariz. | ESPN+ | Live Stats
 
The Wildcats are 16-29 overall and 8-15 in the Western Athletic Conference while GCU enters at 42-10 overall and 20-3 in the WAC.
 
ACU Storylines
SCENARIOS: With the weather potentially playing a factor, it's nearly impossible to predict the outcome of all of the postseason scenarios. Winning percentage is the first factor, so Tarleton State could move ahead of the three-team logjam currently tied for seventh in the WAC since the Texans already have had one game canceled this season. Southern Utah owns tiebreakers over ACU and SFA. ACU has the tiebreaker over SFA.
 
DOUBLE STUFF: Abilene Christian ranks 12th in the NCAA and leads the Western Athletic Conference with 1.79 doubles per game. The Wildcats also are 20th nationally with 77 doubles this season. The ACU Division I era record was 75, set last season. It was broken when on Catrin Hoffman's second double of the game in the opener with Texas-Arlington two weeks ago. Olivia Marble broke the single-season individual record this season with her 14th double and teammate Sammie Shelander is right behind her at 12.
 
BENNETT'S BAT: Kaydee Bennett is second in the WAC with a .506 on-base percentage, a .431 batting average and five triples. She's also third with 0.89 runs per game.
 
PARTNERS IN CRIME: ACU is second in the Western Athletic Conference with 1.24 stolen bases per game. Olivia Marble is second in the WAC with 16 stolen bases and Kaydee Bennett is third with 15.
 
WE DON'T MOVE: ACU batters have been hit by pitch 44 times this season – one shy of a school single-season record. Sammie Shelander has accounted for 11 of those.
 
IN THE CIRCLE: ACU enters the series with a 5.38 team earned run average. Lina Russo leads the Cats with a 4.46 earned run average, 77 strikeouts and a .271 opponent batting average.
 
HISTORY WITH GCU: ACU lost both games in Phoenix last season and has dropped three straight in the brief history of the rivalry.
 
SCOUTING GCU: Grand Canyon is 20-3 in the league and 42-10 overall. The Lopes are fifth nationally with 87 doubles. GCU is 10th in the NCAA with a .338 batting average and Ashley Trierweiler is hitting .459, which is fourth nationally. Ramsay Lopez leads the WAC with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs. Meghan Golden leads the WAC with a 1.98 earned run average and Hailey Hudson has a league-leading 13 wins.