Game Notes

2013 SBC Tournament Central

MOBILE, Ala. ­— No. 18/19 University of South Alabama softball will open the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament with Troy on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Troy Softball Complex.
 
Radio broadcast featuring play-by-play will be available free of charge via the All-Access link found on the university’s athletics webpage, USAJaguars.com. Live stats for all South Alabama softball games are available through the multimedia section at USAJaguars.com. For live video, live stats for all tournament games, ticket information and more, visit the Tournament Central link listed above.
 
The defending tournament champion Jaguars (41-7, 17-3 SBC) earned the number-two seed after finishing runner-up to regular season champion Western Kentucky and will face the Trojans for the first time in postseason play.
 
Serving as tournament hosts for the first time since 2008, the Trojans (20-30, 7-14 SBC) enter the game as seventh seed. USA and Troy were scheduled to conclude their regular season series last weekend, but heavy rainfall in the area deemed the field unplayable.
 
In the teams’ only matchup of the regular season, the Jaguars defeated the Trojans, 9-0, in five innings of play behind Farish Beard’s first career no-hitter. Beard struck out 10, and eight USA batters combined for 11 hits in the victory.
 
Making its sixth appearance at the SBC Tournament, fifth consecutive, South Alabama brings with it a 5-4 record in Troy, a 7-8 all-time record at the finale and a 4-0 record as the two-seed, after the Jaguars were perfect in four 2012 wins en route to claiming the program’s first-ever title, which came after a 3-1 defeat of then-No. 6 Louisiana at Lafayette in the championship game. USA could face the Ragin’ Cajuns again or FIU on Thursday, should the Jaguars advance to the second round.
 
The Jaguars, currently riding a 12-game win streak, enter the week with the NCAA’s fourth-best combined ERA (1.50) and win-loss percentage (85%). The club boasts the nation’s fifth-best fielding percentage (98%) and is ranked 14^th in slugging percentage (.526) and scoring (6.60 runs/game), 17^th in batting average (.322) and 22^nd in home runs per game (1.13).
 
Junior southpaw Hannah Campbell owns the best ERA in the country, a 0.94, and her six saves are fourth-best. Her counterpart in the circle, Beard is allowing just over three hits per game, while striking out almost 10, the NCAA’s fourth- and 12^th-best, respectively.
 
Brittany Fowler is fifth in the country in hit by pitch per game (0.47), 11^th in on-base percentage (.550`) and 30^th in runs per game (1.02). Kaitlyn Griffith is 21^st in NCAA sacrifice flies (4) and hit by pitch per game (0.31).
 
USA led in several statistical categories in league competition this year, including batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI, triples, total bases, hit by pitch, ERA, opposing batting average, hits allowed, walks allowed, runs allowed, earned runs allowed, doubles allowed and fielding double plays, while tying for the lead in home runs.
 
Fowler, freshman Haley Fagan and Julie Moss were dominant in conference play this year. Fowler topped the league in batting average (.518), on-base percentage (.645), runs scored (25) and hit by pitch (10), while Fagan led in slugging percentage (.883), RBI (30) and total bases (53), tying for first in home runs (7), and Moss was amongst the top five in six categories.
 
H. Campbell led in league ERA (1.13), saves (2) and earned runs allowed (12), while Beard led in opposing batting average (.143), doubles allowed (1) and triples allowed (0).
 
Senior infielder Caitlin Ortiz enters the tournament with a 26-game reached base streak, leads Troy batting at .352 clip and is still on pace to break the Trojans' single-season record in on-base percentage at .500. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native is tied for the league lead with 13 doubles.
 
Against Sun Belt opponents, senior shortstop Bailey Blake leads the Trojans with a .364 batting average and currently sits in third in the conference with 15 stolen bases. Junior utility player Kacie McAllister has been just as good at the plate in league play, hitting .350 in 21 games and recording 16 RBIs.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).