The Alabama State softball team has had to play a little of the waiting game this week in order to get another game in as the weather in the River Region has turned to the wintry side.
The Lady Hornets (3-6) will be back on the field beginning Friday with four games scheduled at the Samford Tournament in Birmingham after the team had a six-day layoff.
Alabama State is scheduled to play at Samford at 3:30 p.m. and then Houston Baptist following the end of the first game at J.T. Haywood Field.
Samford (8-2) of the Southern Conference had two come-from-behind victories recently with rallying wins against Loyola-Chicago and Murray State. The Lady Bulldogs are 4-0 in one-run contests already this season.
In the Murray State game, Samford senior Abby Adams was down to her final strike with nobody on base in the seventh inning before she got on base with a single to left field. Junior Caitlin Bice, who had already hit a two-run homerun to left, worked a full-count with the game on the line and managed to do it again by belting another two-run opposite field shot to left.
After that, Murray State never recovered as Hannah Taylor walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Callie Brister's walk-off hit down the left field line.
Houston Baptist (3-7) of the Southland Conference has played better of late. After losing its' first six games, the Lady Huskies have won three of the last four by defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff twice and run-ruling Southeastern Louisiana 14-0 in five innings.
Melissa Herman leads the team with a .391 batting average (9-for-23) with 10 runs scored, one home run, five RBI and three stolen bases. Libby Brown is next on the team with a .333 average (10-for-30) with seven runs scored, one home run, two doubles, one triple, and nine RBI.
On Saturday, ASU will play Valparaiso (2-3) of the Horizon League at 11 a.m. Taylor Lawson leads the Lady Crusaders with a .500 batting average (10-for-20) with five runs scored, three stolen bases and two RBI. Kaitlyn Ranieri is hitting .313 (5-for-16) with two home runs, four RBI and has drawn three walks.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday with a rematch against Houston Baptist at 10 a.m.
Hitting continues to be strength for the Lady Hornets as the team now has collectively hit .343 as a unit including six players who are hitting .345 or better.
They include
Brittney Wilson, who holds a .500 batting average and was named this week's SWAC Hitter of the Week,
Jazzmin Romero (.476),
Carly Evans (.462),
Alexis Johnson (.423), who was named the College Sports Madness SWAC Player of the Week,
Valerie Centeno (.394) and
Kendall Core (.345).
On the mound, junior
Maddie Phelps lowered her season ERA by nearly two runs over the weekend. Phelps is 2-2 with a 5.12 ERA.
Live video will be available for the game against host Samford on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Live video linkFridayat Samford at 3:30 p.m.
http://www.socondigitalnetwork.com/samford Live stats will be available all the games this weekend.
Live stats linksFridayat Samford at 3:30 p.m.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=81971vs Houston Baptist at 5:45 p.m. (approximate)
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=81972SaturdayValparaiso 9 a.m.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=81973Houston Baptist 3:45 p.m.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=81975 #MYASUGORED#
