MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama softball team will compete in the second of its four non-conference tournaments this weekend when the Jaguars play four games in two days at the February Freezer hosted by Mississippi State at Nusz Park.

Game Notes.pdf

GAMES: 6-9 | FEBRUARY FREEZER
Feb. 17-18, 2018 | Starkville, Miss. | Nusz Park
Saturday – South Alabama vs. Murray State* – 11 a.m.
Saturday – South Alabama vs. Mississippi State* – 1:30 p.m.
Sunday – South Alabama vs. Drake* – 11 a.m.
Sunday – South Alabama* vs. Murray State – 1:30 p.m.

* Designates the home team
ALL Times Central

GAME INFORMATION
Television: SEC Network+ // Watch ESPN (vs. Mississippi State only)
Radio: None
Live Stats: www.USAJaguars.com
Live Stream: www.USAJaguars.com (Sunday Games - Audio)
Twitter: @USAJagsSoftball

South Alabama JAGUARS
NFCA: No. -- | USA: No. RV
Record: 4-1, 0-0 SBC
Team Slash (AVG / SLG / OBP) – .265 / .280 / .389

Murray State RACERS
NFCA: No. -- | USA: No. --
Record: 1-3, 0-0 OVC
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP) – .291 / .466 / .427
Series History: USA leads 3-0
In Starkville: 0-0
Last Meeting: 2/18/17
Current Streak: USA 3

Mississippi State BULLDOGS
NFCA: No. RV | USA: No. RV
Record: 5-0, 0-0 SEC
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP) – .377 / .664 / .430
Series History: USA leads 5-3
In Starkville: USA leads 3-1
Last Meeting: 4/26/16
Current Streak: USA 1

Drake BULLDOGS
NFCA: No. -- | USA: No. --
Record: 4-1, 0-0 MVC
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP) – .325 / .404 / .443
Series History: First Meeting

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS    
– South Alabama (4-1, 0-0 SBC) comes into the February Freezer after winning four of its first five to start the season.
– Last weekend, the Jaguars were the lone team at the Friends of Jaclyn to go undefeated at the UCF tourney, posting a perfect 4-0 record.
– As has been the case for the last several years, pitching led the way during the opening week of the season.  South enters play this weekend ranked first in the Sun Belt and 15th nationally in earned run average (0.80).
– The Jaguar staff is also holding opponents to a .168 batting average, which ranks as second best in the conference.  USA has allowed just four earned runs through the first five games of the season and struck out 30 batters.
– In her last outing, senior all-conference right-hander Devin Brown picked up a 1-0 shutout victory over North Florida to improve to 2-1.  After holding the Ospreys off the scoreboard in the third, fourth and fifth innings, Brown closed out strong, striking out five of the final six batters of the game.  The 11-strikeout performance marked the 33rd double-digit strikeout game of her career which is most in program history.
– The complete game shutout marked the 53rd time that Brown has gone the distance in her career and the 27th time that she has shutout an opponent making her just one away from tying Hannah Campbell (2011-14) for the program's all-time mark.
– Junior transfer Alexis Reid also had an outstanding week in the circle for the Jaguars as she was 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in her three appearances.
– In her last outing on Sunday, Reid tossed the first no-hitter of her career and the 17th in program history in South's 6-0 win over Butler.  Reid retired 16 of the final 18 Bulldog batters that she faced, including a stretch of 12-straight from the third inning to the sixth.  Reid didn't allow a ball out of the infield until the sixth inning and only allowed four fly-ball outs in the contest.
– At the plate, sophomore third baseman Katelyn Gruich batted .400 and reached base safely in 11 of her 17 plate appearances.  Gruich recorded four hits, four walks and was hit by a pitch three times.  The three hit-by-pitches have the Biloxi, Miss., native ranked 16th in the NCAA in that category during the early part of the season.
– Megan Harris enters the weekend batting .375 and her five runs batted in are tied with freshman catcher Lyric Cabral for most on the Jag roster.
– Gruich, Harris and Cabral have reached base safely in all five of South's games this season, while Kamdyn Kvistad has done so in each of her last four outings.  Kvistad (.294) is hitting just under .300, but drove in the lone run on Sunday against the Ospreys with a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth.

SCOUTING THE RACERS    
– Murray State (1-3, 0-0 OVC) comes into the weekend after opening the season last week at the Eagle Round Robin Invitational hosted by fellow Sun Belt member Georgia Southern.
– The Racers opened the season with a 16-6 five-inning victory over East Tennessee State, but dropped their last three games falling to Georgia Southern (4-3), ETSU (7-5) and Radford (4-2).
– Murray State will open up play at the tournament this weekend versus Drake and Mississippi State on Friday before facing the Jags on Saturday.  The Racers and South are also scheduled to face each other on Sunday.
– Freshman infielder Sierra Gilmore got her collegiate career off to a nice start last weekend as she reached base in seven of her 13 plate appearances, batted .500, scored three runs and drove in two.
– Dani Walls and Lillie Goetz also batted .400 during the opening weekend, while Goetz had a double and a triple.  Walls drove inn a team-high six runs.
– Madison Culver hit a pair of home runs for the Racers.
– After the first week of play, the Racer pitching staff holds a 6.39 ERA, allowing 22 runs - 21 earned - and 37 hits in their four outings.

THE SERIES VS. MURRAY STATE    
– The two meetings between South Alabama and Murray State will mark the fourth and fifth in the all-time series between the two clubs.
– South holds a 3-0 record in those previous meetings, including an 8-3 win in Mobile last season at the Mardi Gras Invitational on Feb. 18.
– The two other previous meetings came back during the 2013 season at the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, Ala.  The Jags won those two meetings 8-6 and 1-0.

INSIDE THE SERIES VS. THE RACERS    
Series: 3-0 (H: 1-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 2-0)
Extra-Inning Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
Run-Rule Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
NCAA Tournament Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
First Meeting: 3/1/13
Last Meeting: 2/18/17
Longest South Alabama Streak: 3 ('13-'17)
Longest Murray State Streak: --
Current Streak: 3 by South Alabama

THE JAGUARS VS. THE OVC    
– South Alabama holds an all-time record of 19-8 (.704) against current Ohio Valley Conference members.
– The Jaguars have faced nine of the 12 current members.  Eastern Illinois, Morehead State and Tennessee-Martin are the lone OVC members that USA has yet to see on the field.
– With seven meetings in the all-time series, Jacksonville State is the OVC opponent that South has faced the most.  
– Last season, the Jaguars were 3-0 against the league with wins over Jacksonville State, Murray State and Tennessee Tech.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS    
– Mississippi State (5-0, 0-0 SEC) comes into its second-straight home tournament of the season after an impressive performance at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic outscoring its opens 31-0 and run-ruling the opposition in three of those four outings.
– MSU picked up two victories over Mississippi Valley State 10-0 (5 inn.) and 8-0 (6 inn.), Omaha 8-0 (5 inn.) and Missouri Valley State 5-0.
– The Bulldogs also recorded their fifth-straight shutout on Thursday night with a 3-0 victory over UT-Martin.
– Cassady Knudson (2-0) struck out 10 and allowed just one base hit.
– The Mississippi State will open up tournament play on Friday with games against Murray State and Drake.
– In 30 innings of work so far this season, the Bulldog pitching staff also only allowed five hits and five walks, while striking out 50.
– Senior right-hander Holly Ward tossed a pair of complete-game shutouts, allowing just two hits and four walks over 12.0 innings of work.  Ward struck out 18 and held opponents to a .051 average at the plate.  Her weekend was highlighted by tossing just the second perfect game in program history and the first since the 1997 season during MSU's 10-0 victory over MVSU.
– Offensively, the Bulldogs were led by freshman Mia Davidson who garnered SEC Freshman of the Week honors after posting a .667 batting average and 1.333 slugging percentage with six runs scored and five RBI during the opening weekend of play.
– Davidson was 2-for-3 at the plate and scored two of MSU's three runs Thursday night against UTM.
– Emily Heimberger also had an impressive offensive showing during the first week of action as she batted .583 and three extra-base hits – a double and two triples.
– Heimberger enters the weekend batting .467 with a .800 slugging percentage.
– Bevia Robinson (.417), Kat Moore (.400) and Morgan Bell (.364) have also gotten 2018 off to a good start..  
– As Davidson did, Bell hit a pair of home runs and drove in a team-best seven.

THE SERIES VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE    
– The meeting between South Alabama and Mississippi State will mark the ninth in the all-time series between the two clubs.
– The Bulldogs won the first two meetings in the series, but the Jags have taken five of the last six, including picking up a 2-1 win in Starkville in the last meeting back during the 2016 season.
– MSU won the first meeting between the two clubs during the 2016 season in Mobile, a 4-2 eight-inning affair.
– South also holds a 3-1 record in the four previous meetings in on Mississippi State's home field, including the last three.

INSIDE THE SERIES VS. THE BULLDOGS    
Series: 5-3 (H: 2-2 / A: 3-1 / N: 0-0)
Extra-Inning Games: 0-1 (H: 0-1 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
Run-Rule Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
NCAA Tournament Games: 1-0 (H: 1-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
First Meeting: 4/8/09
Last Meeting: 4/26/16
Longest South Alabama Streak: 4 ('13-'15)
Longest Mississippi State Streak: 2 ('09-'12)
Current Streak: 1 by South Alabama
Last 5 – 4-1

THE JAGUARS VS. THE SEC    
– South Alabama holds an all-time record of 12-35 (.255) against current Southeastern Conference members.
– Of the eight teams from the SEC, Alabama and Florida are the lone two teams from the league that South Alabama has yet to pick up a win against as the Jaguars hold at least one victory over the other six schools that they have faced.
– South Alabama dropped its season opener 1-0 to Alabama on Feb. 8.
– Along with the Bulldogs, the Jaguars are scheduled to play three other teams from the league – vs. South Carolina (2/24), at Tennessee (3/3) and at LSU (4/24).

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS    
– Drake (4-1, 0-0 MVC) comes into the tournament after picking up wins over (2) Green Bay (11-0 [5 inn.] and 6-0), South Dakota State (10-2 [6 inn.]), Southeast Missouri State (1-0) during the opening week at the UNI Dome Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
– The Bulldogs loss at the tournament came in their final game against UMKC, a 2-1 decision.
– Drake will take on both Murray State and Mississippi State twice before facing the Jaguars on Sunday.
– Redshirt junior Nicole Newman (2-0) didn't allow a run during the opening weekend of action, allowed just three hits, struck out 19 and walked two in eight innings of work.
– For her play, Newman – who missed most of the 2017 season due to injury – was named Missouri Valley Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week the sixth honor of her career.  
– Kailee Smith (1.08 ERA) and Nicole Timmons (1.27 ERA) also had impressive showings in the circle for Drake.  Timmons also struck out 19 in her 11 innings of work.
– As a staff, the Bulldogs hold a 0.88 earned run average and struck out 45 in 32 innings over the weekend.
– Mandi Roemmich posted a .429 batting average and scored five runs over the weekend, while Kelsey Wright and Macy Johnson each hit .417.
– Wright scored six runs, drove in four and had a pair of doubles.
– Sarah Maddox (.400) leads the team with six RBI.
– Along with their 38 hits, the Bulldogs also reached base 28 other times drawing 27 walks and being hit by a pitch once.

THE SERIES VS. DRAKE    
– The meeting between South Alabama and Drake will mark the first meeting in the all-time series between the two clubs.

THE JAGUARS VS. THE MVC    
– South Alabama holds an all-time record of 4-1 (.800) against current Missouri Valley Conference members.
– The Jaguars have faced Evansville and Illinois State twice and Southern Illinois once.
– The last time South faced a team from the league was during the 2016 season when the Jaguars defeated Illinois State 4-3 at the Aquafina Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.

PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND
Head coach Becky Clark
-On what she's looking for your team to build on as you go into this second weekend of play: "We have to build on our overall approach from both a preparation and execution standpoint.  I thought we were up and down with both of these and we have to take a step forward considering we spend so much time on both areas in practice.  Winning at a high level comes down to preparation and execution.  Are you prepared and can you execute pitches, approaches at the plate, defensively, etc...I thought we were too hit or miss and need to even out in those two areas."
-On what she saw out of her team during the first weekend of play that you liked: "Offensively, we have a tremendous amount of potential with a great balance between our speed and power.  I think when we figure out how to put all of the pieces together, we have the chance to be really good at the plate.  From a pitching standpoint, I thought [Devin] Brown and [Alexis] Reid got off to a great start and gave us a chance in every game we played.  I thought overall they were mentally consistent and competed every pitch."
-On where she feels her team can get better this weekend: "I am looking for us to be more consistent mentally overall.  Offensively, we have to be more consistent with our preparation and approach at the plate.  I thought we saw a glimpse of what is possible from an offensive standpoint in the Illinois game.  We had great results because we were having quality at-bats and were consistently being aggressive in the zone.  We have to get to that place mentally every time.  From a defensive standpoint, we have to continue to work together and eliminate some of the fundamental errors we made.  I thought from a pitching standpoint, we have to eliminate bad walks, especially at the bottom of the order."

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).
    
Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub

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