MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama State University softball team will close out the regular season Wednesday afternoon with a trip to Macon (Ga.) to face Mercer University.
First pitch for the regular season finale is 5 pm (est)/4 pm (cst).
Alabama State (16-30, 10-8 SWAC) has won two of their last games, and wrapped up the second seed in the East Division for the upcoming SWAC Championship Tournament to be held at the Barbara Williams Softball Complex May 10-13. The Lady Hornets wrapped up the seed with a 23 run scoring outburst off of 31 hits in a doubleheader sweep of Mississippi Valley State on Saturday.
The Lady Hornets will step out of conference play for the final time this season, looking for their first non-conference victory since a 6-3 victory over Middle Tennessee back on April 12.
Valerie Centeno continues to lead the Lady Hornets at the plate, hitting .382 this season – including raising her average 82 points since March 24. She has collected 50 hits on the season, including 13 extra base hits and 25 runs batted in. Her six triples on the season place her in the top 20 in the country in that category, and she leads eight other hitters with .300 or better average.
Diauna Nelson returned to the lineup this weekend and responded with four hits in two games, and is hitting .368 for the year with seven runs batted. Meanwhile,
Perry Hindi enters the week after collecting seven hits last week and is hitting .362 with 14 extra-base hits; including five home runs.
Kaylee Davis enters the game hitting .344 with 24 runs scored for the Lady Hornets.
Kendall Core leads Alabama State in power numbers, while hitting .319 on the year. She enters the game with nine home runs – 30 for her career and one shy of the school record – and 44 runs batted in. She has collected 148 career RBI, leaving her one short of second place in school history; all while collecting her 200th career hit against Mississippi Valley State.
Taylor Rosser (.316),
Laura Aguilar (.315),
Hailey Walker (.314),
Alexia Boggess (.313) and
Charlene Castro (.310) are the other hitters above .300 for the Lady Hornets. Alabama State will face a Mercer pitching staff led by Megan Bilgri (10-7, 2.33 ERA) and Stella Preston (5-8, 2.70 ERA) that have held opponents to an average of .260 at the plate.
The Lady Hornets counter with
Vanessa Bradford (10-12, 4.60 ERA) and
Justine Jean (4-11, 6.36 ERA) who will look to keep Mercer off the bases as the Bears enter hitting .274 with 90 extra base hits and 104 stolen bases.
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