SOFTBALL RIDES WAVE OF MOMENTUM INTO CORPUS CHRISTI
4/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 10, 2008
ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington softball team plays its next seven games on the road, starting with a three-game series against Southland Conference foe Texas A&M Corpus Christi this weekend.
The Mavericks (18-16, 12-9 SLC) are on a six-game winning streak and are just one game out of third place in the league standings. They play the ninth-place Islanders (16-23, 6-12) twice on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and the finale is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Led by Southland Conference Hitter of the Week Amanda Swofford, the Mavericks are riding the momentum of last weekend's three-game sweep of McNeese State. UTA is 8-6 in road games this season and has won six of its last seven meetings against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
The Islanders are coming off a convincing doubleheader sweep Tuesday at Prairie View A&M in which they scored 26 runs and pounded out 33 hits. Junior right fielder Kim Connelly blasted three homers and drove in eight runs and sophomore designated player Margo Hurdt collected seven hits.
UTA leads the Southland Conference in slugging percentage (.451), on-base percentage (.373) and home runs (38) and ranks second in batting average (.285). The pitching staff is second in the league in earned-run average (2.26) and strikeouts (236).
Individually, Swofford ranks second in home runs (nine), fourth in slugging (.660) and seventh in OBP (.439). Sophomore Brittany Washington is second in slugging (.671) and tied for third in homers (eight). Sophomore pitcher Cara Hulme (10-4) is fifth in strikeouts (120) and sixth in ERA (1.90) and senior Laura Jones (4-9) ranks third in ERA (1.57) and 10th in Ks (61).
The Mavericks have outscored their opponents 48-9 during their current winning streak. More fireworks could happen this weekend against a Corpus Christi pitching staff with a team ERA of 4.76 and more walks (133) than strikeouts (108).
