(SCHEDULE CHANGE) SERIES PREVIEW: Softball at Southwestern University (3/31-4/01)
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
(For Friday, March 31)
(For Saturday, April 1)
SOCIAL MEDIA
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FIRST PITCH
The University of Dallas softball team continues its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) swing at Southwestern University. Due to inclement weather hitting Central Texas on Saturday, the contests have been rescheduled up a day. Revised day and time for the first doubleheader is Friday, March 31 at 2 p.m. Saturday's twinbill remains 1 p.m. but will now be the conclusion of the four-game set.
The Crusaders are on a stretch where they play 16 straight games versus conference opponents. So far Dallas is 1-3 on that span having dropped its most recent home series to Schreiner University last weekend. Overall, UD is 9-15 and 4-4 in SCAC play.
UD NOTES
- Two players etched their names in the single game record books for the program last weekend. In the team's 4-3 victory Saturday, Mackenzie Tano (Wylie, Texas) hustled out a pair of triples to become the seventh player to achieve the feat. In the series finale Sunday, Melanie Savala (Bryan, Texas) stole five bases to claim the new record.
- Jade Miller (Plano, Texas) leads the SCAC in batting average (.486) and has a nine-game hitting streak going. The team leader in steals (18) leads the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and is tied third in SCAC. She is also tied third in the SCAC for triples (3).
- Savala is second on the team hitting .303 and second in hits with 20. She has belted a pair of doubles, triples, and a home run. Allison Kotlar (Edna, Texas) has 19 hits and his batting .279 to round out the top three with at least 60 at bats.
- Allie Driskill (Houston, Texas) and Tano are deadlocked for team-highs in RBI with 12 apiece.
- The team has stolen a base in 20 straight contests. Seven steals in the most recent outing marked a season-high and the team now has 53 overall, which is third in SCAC.
- Lauren Galvan (Bryan, Texas) and Katie Lee (Houston, Texas) are the two top pitchers on the squad with six complete games each. Lee has thrown 78.1 innings and ranks third in the USCAA for strikeouts thrown (31). Galvan has added 66.1 innings tossed and five wins to tie first in the USCAA with two other players. Lee is tied second with four.
SCOUTING THE PIRATES
- Southwestern University has gone 11-9 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
- The Pirates are riding an eight-game winning streak, which includes a four-game sweep Mar. 10-11 over Austin College.
- Southwestern had its Wednesday doubleheader at Our Lady of the Lake cancelled, and also have been victimized by poor weather at the beginning of the month at home against Texas Lutheran University.
- Overall at home, the Pirates are 3-7 this spring.
- Sydney Scott leads the hitting with 24 knocks, 15 runs scored, eight doubles, and two triples (tied lead). She is one of two players hitting over .400 with a .421-clip.
- Katie Bricarell is hitting .435 and is second on the team in runs (14), doubles (6), home runs (2), and RBIs (13).
- Taylor Curtis has pounded a team-high three round-trippers and is tied with Scott for the team-lead in doubles with eight. She rounds out the top trio in double-digits for runs driven in (12).
- Kaitlynn Copher has 22 hits (2nd on team), two triples (tied 1st), and 25 runs-batted-in (1st).
- Bricarell, Scott, and Copher are within the top five batting averages in the SCAC at second, third, and fifth, respectively. Copher's RBI count is the second highest in the league.
- Lindsey Longuet leads the pitchers in the circle with 55 innings pitched and has a 3.31 ERA. Her 58 strikeouts ranks are fourth in SCAC. Chandler Smith (35.1) and Nadia Netek (28.2) have also contributed innings and spun earned run averages beneath 4.00 at 3.17 and 3.66, respectively.
RECENT MATCHUPS
- Dallas is 6-22 overall against the Pirates, but all have come out of the past eight matchups over the last two seasons.
- The Crusaders took three games at home in the regular season (L, 7-1 | W, 6-4 | W, 1-0 | W, 9-5) and then run-ruled Southwestern in the first elimination game, 9-1. That victory lifted Dallas to the furthest it had been in an SCAC Tournament.
- Savala had the big hit with a three-run shot part of a four-run inning.
- Lee delivered five punch outs in five innings. She also was the pitcher that hurled a shutout in game three of the series that secured a split at least in the one-run victory.
- Last time these squads played in Georgetown, a pair of one-run finals split the first day. After falling 5-4, Dallas held on to an 11-inning, 9-8 decision that counted as the Crusaders first even victory head-to-head.
- The next day, Dallas fell 6-3 and then won 5-3 to secure a split.
UP NEXT
Dallas will be at reigning three-time SCAC Tournament Champion Texas Lutheran University on April 7-8.