MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The defending Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion Alabama State University softball team opens conference play Friday night against the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The three-game series begins Friday night at 5 pm, and ends with a doubleheader on Saturday at the Barbara Williams Softball Complex.
Alabama State (5-18, 0-0 SWAC) has played a challenging schedule to date, with one nationally-ranked team (Auburn) and two others receiving votes (Mississippi State and South Alabama) appearing on the schedule. The Lady Hornets have also played three of teams (UT-Martin, Belmont and Loyola-Chicago) that started their seasons off undefeated, and reached double-digit wins before dropping a contest.
The Lady Hornets, who won the East Division of the conference before winning the tournament championship, will play three of their first four conference series at home; beginning with this weekend's matchup with the Lady Golden Lions. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-15, 0-0 SWAC) and Alabama State have met just twice over the last two seasons, once in the SWAC Roundup and the other in the conference tournament. The Lady Hornets have been able to come away with two victories in the process, outscoring Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14-0 in the process.
Alabama State enters the weekend hitting just .257 as a team, but has four hitters over .300 through the first 23 games of the season. Senior
Perry Hindi and sophomore
Kaylee Davis are each hitting .344 on the season, with Hindi leading the way with 21 hits. The senior has seven extra base hits (which include three home runs) and nine runs batted in, while Davis has collected 11 hits and scored three runs.
Meanwhile,
Valerie Centeno is hitting .304 for the Lady Hornets with 17 hits (which include four triples). Senior
Kendall Core has supplied the power numbers for the Lady Hornets this season, while hitting .302. The senior has seven home runs and 24 runs batted in, and is just three home runs away from tying the school mark for home runs in a career. Senior
Laura Aguilar is just under .300, hitting .284 with 21 hits on the season.
In the circle, freshman
Vanessa Bradford has won all five of the Lady Hornets games this season while compiling a 5-6 mark (dropping her last three decisions). She has lowered her earned run average to 5.35, while allowing 94 hits in 68 innings of work with one complete game. Fellow freshman,
Justine Jean (0-6) has recorded a 6.29 earned run average over 49 innings of work; while sophomore
Charlene Castro has recorded a pair of saves for the Lady Hornets.
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