April 8, 2014
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington softball travels to Abilene, Texas for its first midweek game of the season Wednesday at 6 p.m. versus Abilene Christian.
The Mavericks (15-23, 1-8 SBC) faced the Wildcats earlier this season when ACU defeated UT Arlington 2-1 in eight innings in Lubbock.
"For ACU we are going to work on making more adjustments at the plate throughout the game," UT Arlington coach Kristie Fox said. "The last time we faced them we did not do a good job of that. After hitting a bit of a rough patch in our season we need to get our confidence back by focusing on the process and not the result."
FOLLOWING THE GAME: Live stats and stream are available live on UTAMavs.com. Twitter updates are available through @UTAMavs.
UT ARLINGTON LAST WEEK: The Mavericks won their first Sun Belt Conference game last weekend against Georgia State. UT Arlington defeated the Panthers 3-1 to snap the team's seven-game losing streak, but dropped the next two games. Junior Villanueva continues to play well for the Mavericks. She hit her sixth homerun of the season as she led the Mavericks with a .625 batting average against Georgia State. Villanueva had two runs off of five hits and three RBI on the weekend. She rounded eight total bases with three walk and a 1.000 slugging percentage. She had three putouts, seven assists and no errors at shortstop.
SCOUTING ACU: The Wildcats are 16-19 overall and 8-5 on their home field. Freshman Taylor Browns is leading the team with a .420 batting average and 21 runs off oh 37 hits. Senior Ashley Nolan is also batting over. 400 with 13 runs off of 29 hits. ACU's pitching staff is led by freshman Hannah Null with a 2.52 ERA in 22 appearances and 16 starts.
AT THE PLATE: Junior Nina Villanueva is batting .313 to lead the Mavericks, with 36 hits and 31 RBI.
ROADIES: The Mavericks have struggled on the road this season with a 2-8 away record. As a team the Mavericks bat .205 from the plate on their opponent's home field.
COUNTING HOMERS: Nina Villanueva (6), Jolene Schaefer (3), Britnea Barilli (3), Rebecca Stokes (2), Shelbi Sikes (2), Meagan Michele (2), Jasmine Tanksley (1), Kacey Everett (1-grand slam), Holly Murphree (1).
COLLINS NAMED SBC PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Senior pitcher Callie Collins earned UT Arlington's first Sun Belt Conference softball accolades by being named the SBC Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 24. Collins made five appearances and three starts during the UTA Hilton Invitational, earning a 3-0 record and allowing just two earned runs through 19.1 innings pitched.
SECOND YEAR UNDER FOX: UT Arlington is in its second season under coach Kristie Fox. Fox helped the Mavs improve from a 15-26 record in 2012 to a 25-28 record in 2013. Fox, a former All-American, was a two-time national champion at Arizona and an assistant coach at Texas Tech prior to accepting the position with the Mavericks.
THIRD YEAR, THIRD CONFERENCE: The Mavericks softball team will be in their third conference in as many years with the move to the Sun Belt. UTA moved from the Southland Conference in 2012 to the Western Athletic Conference in 2013.
IT'S A NUMBERS GAME: The Mavericks are 10-5 when leading after the fourth inning. The team is a perfect 7-0 when scoring six or more runs and 11-1 when out-hitting its opponent.
