BOWLING GREEN, Ky. ? Holding just a half-game lead over the Lady Toppers for eighth place in the Sun Belt Conference standings, the University of South Alabama softball team and Western Kentucky will square off this weekend in a key three-game league series in Bowling Green, Ky. The two clubs will open the series with a doubleheader on Saturday with game times set for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The series finale is slated for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday at the WKU Softball Complex.
Live stats for all three games of the SBC series can be accessed at www.usajaguars.com.
South Alabama (21-26, 5-13 SBC) enters the key Sun Belt series versus Western Kentucky after picking up a 4-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday in Mobile.
Jag senior first baseman Autumn Hudson was instrumental for South Alabama in the victory, with a 2-for-2 performance at the plate, an RBI single in the first and a solo home run on her next at bat. Hudson also walked in her third plate appearance, which USA was able to get another run out of when pinch runner Julie Morton came into score.
Freshman Shannon Smith pitched six strong innings, allowing just one unearned run on four hits. Sophomore Beth Pilgrim came in and pitched a perfect seventh inning to record her third save of the season.
Offensively, South Alabama continues to be led on the season by Evelyne Pare and Tara Donaldson. Pare leads the club with a .381 batting average, while also pacing the club in hits (59), triples (3), total bases (69) and on-base percentage (.458). Pare also leads the Sun Belt in stolen bases with 36. She is also riding a nine-game hit streak for the Jags.
Donaldson sits behind Pare at .302. Donaldson also leads the team in doubles with seven, while ranking second on club in hits with 39 and total bases with 49. Hudson is the top run producer on the club with three home runs and 19 RBIs.
In the circle, Pilgrim paces the club with 10 wins and 148 strike outs in 164 innings of work.
The Lady Toppers come into the series with a 20-26 overall mark and a 4-13 record in the Sun Belt. WKU has won its last four games and six of last seven, including taking two out of three last weekend at North Texas. Western Kentucky also swept a mid-week doubleheader from Belmont on Wednesday.
Sophomore Lindsay Antone leads the Lady Toppers at the plate with a .364 batting average. Antone has recorded 51 hits, score 27 runs, hit 11 home runs and drove in 28, all team best. Junior catcher Rebecca Horesky is also hitting over .300 as she is at .315. She has seven homers and 25 RBIs to go along with her average.
In the circle, junior Ryan Rogge leads the team with 12 wins and a 3.04 ERA. She has also struck out 147 in 145 innings of work.
The meeting between South Alabama and Western Kentucky will be just the second three-game series between the two clubs in the all-time series. Last season, the Lady Toppers managed to take two of three in Mobile a season ago.
The Jags opened the series a season ago with a 4-2 victory, but behind the pitching of Jennifer Kempf, the Lady Toppers bounced back to take the final two games of the series, 2-1 and 2-0. Kempf went the distance for Western in all three games. USA’s Jenny Stevens was 5-for-9 last season against the Lady Toppers with a double and an RBI.
April 28, 2007 - USA 4, WKU 2 - Mobile, Ala.
April 28, 2007 - WKU 2, USA 1 - Mobile, Ala.
April 29, 2007 - WKU 2, USA 0 - Mobile, Ala.
