| March 10, 2005
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 Roadrunners open SLC title defense with three-game series against McNeese State this weekend Complete Release | Live Stats SAN ANTONIO - The UTSA softball team opens defense of its Southland Conference regular season crown this weekend when the McNeese State Cowgirls come to Roadrunner Field for a three-game series. A double header on Saturday, March 12, is set for 1 p.m., followed by game three on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Roadrunners own the best overall record in the league at 16-10, while McNeese State enters the weekend 8-17 overall and 1-2 in the conference. UTSA Roadrunners (16-10, 0-0 SLC)
vs.
McNeese State Cowgirls (8-17, 1-2 SLC) Roadrunner Field • San Antonio, Texas Game 1: Saturday, March 12 - 1 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, March 12 - 3 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, March 13 - 1 p.m. Quick Hits
• UTSA has won nine of its past 12 games
• The Roadrunners are 5-0 at home this season
• UTSA has 42 home runs through 26 games (1.62 avg.)
• Senior Jennifer Davis was named Southland Conference Hitter of the Week on Tuesday
Series History:
UTSA leads, 29-17
Last Meeting: UTSA 2, McNeese State 1 (9 innings)
April 26, 2004 • Lake Charles, La.
UTSA Tidbits:
UTSA has won nine of its past 12 games and 16 of its last 21 … the Roadrunners have outscored their opponents by nearly a 2-1 margin this year (155-80) … UTSA has slugged 42 home runs through the first 26 games for an average of 1.62 home runs per game … that is a faster pace than the NCAA record-setting 2004 Roadrunners who had 36 through the first 26 contests … … senior Krystal Gibson became the fifth player in school history to reach 200 hits for her career with a single in the top of the sixth in a 7-1 loss at No. 4 Texas … Jennifer Davis has 10 multiple-hit games, including a school-record five-hit outing in the 11-4 win over Western Michigan … sophomore Aimee Murray had a team-best 10-game hitting streak come to a halt in the 4-0 win over Evansville … Gibson and junior Jessica Rogers both have seven multiple-RBI games … sophomore Ursula Mares struck out a school-record 14 batters in the 13-0 win over Albany … UTSA is 5-0 at home with a .331 batting average, 40 runs scored and 12 home runs, while allowing just three runs this season … with the 5-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, head coach Corrie Hill passed Chickie Mason as the school’s all-time winningest coach … Hill needs just five victories to reach 200 in her UTSA career.
Last Time Out:
Senior Krystal Gibson hit her fourth home run of the season, but No. 4 Texas swept UTSA, 2-0 and 7-1, behind a pair of impressive pitching performances from Olympic gold medalist Cat Osterman and Amy Bradford Wednesday evening in Austin. Osterman hurled her second perfect game of the season, striking out 18 batters, in a 2-0 win in game one, while Bradford struck out five in a 7-1 victory in game two. Gibson’s solo shot in the top of the third off Bradford was the first run she has given up this year.
Scouting McNeese State:
The Cowgirls enter this weekend’s series at 8-17 overall and 1-2 in Southland Conference play. Senior first baseman Beth Jordan leads the offense with a .449 batting average, 13 runs, 18 RBI, eight doubles, one triple and four home runs. Jessica Denham is the ace of the pitching staff with a 1-8 record, 2.78 ERA, 42 strikeouts and a .224 opposing batting average. Head coach Chris Malveaux is in his first season at the helm.
2004 McNeese State Series Rewind:
After waiting two days to play because of heavy rain in the Lake Charles area, UTSA clinched its first-ever Southland Conference title with a doubleheader sweep of McNeese State, 3-0 and 2-1 (nine innings), on April 26. Ursula Mares worked all 16 innings of the doubleheader, striking out five and allowing just seven hits, while Jessica Els (double, RBI-triple), Jessica Rogers (RBI-double) and Jenny Garcia (game-winning RBI-double in game two) led the offense. The sweep gave UTSA a 20-6 league record and a 33-15 overall mark.
Tough Slate:
The 2005 schedule is one of the program’s toughest in recent memory as the Roadrunners have played five teams ranked in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Top 25. UTSA opened with a three-game set at Arizona State, which is ranked No. 24 in the NFCA Top 25 and receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, and then played at No. 23 Texas A&M (now No. 15/11) in the same week. UTSA shut out Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a 19-1 squad that moved into the No. 25 spot in the NFCA poll this week, 5-0, on Feb. 13. UTSA also has played two games against Nebraska (No. 17/19) and Texas (No. 11/4).
Tournament Trifecta:
UTSA won three tournament titles in four tournaments played this season. The Roadrunners claimed the Fastpitch Express College Classic title on Feb. 11-13 in San Antonio and the UTEP Miner Invitational on Feb. 25-27 in El Paso with perfect 4-0 records. UTSA and Houston both ended the Hyatt Regency Cougar Classic on March 4-6 in Houston with just one loss, but the Roadrunners owned the tiebreaker with a 3-0 win in the only head-to-head meeting.
Hot Hitting:
Five Roadrunner regulars are batting .300 or better over the past eight games, led by junior Jessica Els’ .455 (10-for-22) mark. Els has two home runs, six RBI and is slugging .727 during the stretch. Jennifer Davis also has the hot hand with a .423 (11-for-26) average, one double, two triples, two home runs, five RBI and a team-best .846 slugging percentage. Senior Jessica Ellison (.353), and juniors Jenny Garcia (.318) and Mel Torres (.318) also are above the .300 mark.
Ring Of Fire:
UTSA’s one-two pitching punch of Ursula Mares and freshman Amanda Nikolenko have heated up the circle over the past two weeks (12 games). Mares is 6-2 with one save, a 2.09 ERA, 66 strikeouts and only eight walks, while Nikolenko is 3-1 with a 1.93 ERA, 23 strikeouts, just four walks and a .181 opposing batting average.
Change of Scenery:
Last year, Amanda Horton made a successful transition from pitcher as a freshman to third team all-conference designated player. Horton, who is a preseason second team All-SLC outfielder, saw the most innings (129.1) of any pitcher on UTSA’s staff two seasons ago, but earned a regular spot in the batting order midway through the 2004 campaign and finished with a .284 batting average, 13 home runs and 29 RBI. This year, sophomore Stevi Simpson, who was the No. 2 pitcher in 2004 with a 9-6 record and 3.40 ERA, has emerged as one of the top options at designated player with a .300 batting average (12 hits) and five RBI.
Torres Is Torrid:
After a slow start to her UTSA career — just five hits in the first 14 games — junior Mel Torres has caught fire over the last three weeks. Dating back to the UTEP Miner Invitational (12 games), the Kansas transfer is batting .353 with two doubles, three home runs, seven RBI and 10 runs scored. Torres is now hitting .257 on the season with three doubles, five homers, 14 RBI and 15 runs and has made just one error in 54 chances at second base.
SGP Reunion:
Three former South Grand Prairie High School standouts have been reunited in uniform at UTSA. Jennifer Davis, Jessica Rogers and Mel Torres all had outstanding careers for the Warriors and have continued that trend for the Roadrunners.
What’s In A Name?:
UTSA has four players named Jessica (Els, Ellison, Rogers, Saenz), three named Jennifer (Davis, Garcia, McQueen) and two named Krystal (Gibson, Guevara) and Amanda (Horton and Nikolenko). The similarities do not stop with the first names as there are two Garcia’s (Jenny and Laura) on the roster.
Don’t Call Me Ernie:
Sharing the surname with one of the world’s top golfers, Ernie Els, Jessica Els has caught fire over the past three weeks and now owns the third-best batting average on the squad (.366). The Cy-Fair High School product is 17-for-35 (.486) with three home runs, one double, a triple, seven runs and 12 RBI over the last 12 games.
Going, Going, Gone:
Under seventh-year head coach Corrie Hill, UTSA has emerged as one of the top power-hitting programs in the country. The Roadrunners have led the NCAA in home runs per game each of the past two seasons, hitting 1.45 per game (80/55 games) in 2003 and an NCAA-record 1.87 (101/54 games) last year. This year, UTSA has hit 42 home runs through the first 26 games (1.62 per game). In the record-setting 2004 season, the Roadrunners had 36 long balls through the first 26 contests.
Night And Day:
UTSA has played 20 games during the day, as opposed to just four at night and the statistical difference between the two is like, well, night and day. In the five night contests, the Roadrunners are batting .240, while under the bright sunshine UTSA has a .330 batting average and a 15-6 record.
Early Bird Gets The Worm:
UTSA has struck early and often for runs in the 2005 campaign. The Roadrunners have outscored their opponents, 56-22, in the first two innings combined and own an 155-80 advantage overall.
Chart Climbing:
Several Roadrunners are making their way up the school’s career record book in several different categories. Krystal Gibson appears on 10 different career charts and is within reach of the school record for doubles (42/record: 46), extra-base hits (80/record: 92), RBI (109/record: 136) and putouts (1,041/record: 1,172). Jessica Rogers, a junior with 38 career home runs already, has her sights set on the career mark of 55 set by Christy Brownlee.
Record-Setting Roadrunners:
Speaking of school records, the 2004 squad staked its claim to 10 team single-season and eight single-game records, including an NCAA record 10 home runs and 64 total bases in a 26-1 win at Texas Southern on April 8.
Single-Game Standouts:
This season, two Roadrunners have broken school single-game records already. Ursula Mares struck out 14 Albany batters on Feb. 25 to eclipse the former mark of 13 shared by Paige Whitley and Angela Graham. On March 6, Jennifer Davis went 5-for-5 in an 11-4 victory over Western Michigan, breaking the former standard of four held by many. The single-game home run record of two has been matched three times this year, as well.
Preseason Polls:
UTSA is the favorite to win the Southland Conference crown again in 2005 in both the head coaches and sports information directors preseason polls. The Roadrunners received all but one first-place vote in both polls. Sam Houston State was the runner-up pick in the coaches poll, while Texas State was the second choice by the SIDs.
All-SLC Accolades:
Seven Roadrunners were named to the 2005 Preseason All-SLC Team, including five on the first team. Krystal Gibson (1B), Jennifer Davis (OF), Jessica Rogers (3B), Aimee Murray (SS) and Ursula Mares (P) all were voted to the first squad, while juniors Amanda Horton (OF) and Jessica Els (C) made the second team. Head Coach Corrie Hill:
Now in her seventh season at the helm of the UTSA softball program, Corrie Hill has emerged as one of the top offensive minds in fastpitch softball today and has turned the Roadrunners into one of the top programs in the region. In six years in San Antonio, Hill has tutored one All-American in Amanda Michalsky, seven all-region performers and 36 all-conference players, including 12 first-teamers. Hill guided UTSA to its first Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles in 2004, clinching the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth in the process. She was voted the SLC Coach of the Year as the Roadrunners racked up 37 wins and a 20-6 league mark. She now has the distinction of being the only SLC coach to win a league crown as a player (Texas-Arlington in 1989) and coach. Hill, who become the school’s all-time winningest coach with a 5-0 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 13, has averaged 30 wins per season in six years at UTSA and needs just five victories to reach 200 with the Roadrunners.
Up Next:
UTSA travels to Nacogdoches, Texas, for a three-game conference series at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday-Sunday, March 19-20.
|
