| March 17, 2005
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 Roadrunners hit the road for three-game SLC set at SFA Complete Release SAN ANTONIO - The UTSA softball team rolls into Nacogdoches, Texas, for a three-game Southland Conference series at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday-Sunday, March 19-20. The Roadrunners improved to 19-10 overall and 3-0 in the league with a sweep of McNeese State last weekend, while the Lady Jacks are 7-15 overall and 1-8 in the SLC. UTSA Roadrunners (19-10, 3-0 SLC)
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Stephen F. Austin Lady Jacks (7-15, 1-8 SLC) Coy Simms Softball Complex • Nacogdoches, Texas Game 1: Saturday, March 19 - 1 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, March 19 - 3 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, March 20 - 1 p.m. Quick Hits
• UTSA has won 12 of its past 15 games
• The Roadrunners enter this weekend with a nine-game conference regular season win streak
• UTSA leads the all-time series with SFA, 26-12
• Head coach Corrie Hill needs two victories to reach 200 in her UTSA career.
• UTSA has an NCAA-best 51 home runs through the first 29 games (1.76 avg.) Series History:
UTSA leads, 26-12
Last Meeting: UTSA 3, SFA 0
April 4, 2004 • San Antonio, Texas
UTSA Tidbits:
UTSA has won 12 of its past 15 games and 19 of its last 24 … the Roadrunners have outscored their opponents by a 2:1 margin this year (179-89) … UTSA has slugged 51 home runs through the first 29 games for an average of 1.76 home runs per game … that is a faster pace than the NCAA record-setting 2004 Roadrunners who had 37 through the first 29 contests … juniors Jessica Els and Jessica Rogers both carry four-game hitting streaks into this weekend’s series … 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 … Rogers has nine multiple-RBI games, including five in a 12-1 win over Centenary … sophomore Ursula Mares struck out a school-record 14 batters in the 13-0 win over Albany … 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 two victories to reach 200 in her UTSA career.
Last Time Out:
UTSA scored 24 runs on 33 hits, including nine home runs, in sweeping a three-game Southland Conference series from McNeese Sate last weekend. With the three wins, the Roadrunners extended their home winning streak to 19 games and their conference regular season winning streak to nine. In game one, UTSA used a three-run fourth inning to break open a 1-1 game and cruise to a 4-1 victory. Ursula Mares struck out five in hurling a complete-game three-hitter, while senior Jessica Ellison hit her first home run of the season. In the second game of the Saturday twinbill, the Roadrunners exploded for a season-high 15 runs on 17 hits, including six long balls — two each from Jessica Rogers and sophomore Aimee Murray. McNeese State took an early 7-3 lead after two innings, but UTSA scored five runs in the fourth and six in the fifth to take the 15-7 decision. Junior Hope Ortiz worked four innings of four-hit ball in relief to earn her first win of the season. In the series finale on Sunday, Krystal Gibson hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning and Mares tossed another complete game as UTSA improved to 3-0 in the SLC with a 5-1 victory.
Scouting Stephen F. Austin:
The Lady Jacks have won three straight games and are 7-15 overall and 1-8 in the Southland Conference entering this weekend’s series. Senior outfielder Carrie Woydziak leads the SFA offense with a .426 batting average and 18 runs. Julie Morse leads the pitching staff with a 3-4 record and 4.45 ERA. Jennifer Poulsen is in her fourth season as head coach.
2004 Stephen F. Austin Series Rewind:
UTSA swept a three-game series from Stephen F. Austin at Roadrunner Field to extend its winning streak to 10 games. Amanda Horton hit her ninth home run of the season and Ursula Mares struck out four batters over seven innings as UTSA won game one, 1-0. Krystal Gibson stroked a walk-off, two-run home run to right field to lead the Roadrunners to a 7-5 victory in game two. In game three, Mares scattered five hits in seven scoreless innings and Aimee Murray went 3-for-3 to lead UTSA to a 3-0 win and the series sweep.
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. 21 in the NFCA Top 25 and No. 22 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, and then played at No. 23 Texas A&M (now No. 12/10) in the same week. UTSA also has played two games against Nebraska (No. 18/19) and Texas (No. 11/5) and took a 5-0 decision from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a team that was ranked No. 25 last week and now is receiving 13 votes in the NFCA Poll.
Night And Day:
UTSA has played 23 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 .335 batting average and an 18-6 record.
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 (82/record: 92), RBI (114/record: 136) and putouts (1,051/record: 1,172). Jessica Rogers, a junior with 41 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 five times this year, as well.
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.
Early Bird Gets The Worm:
UTSA has struck early and often for runs in the 2005 campaign. The Roadrunners have outscored their opponents, 60-30, in the first two innings combined and own an 179-89 advantage overall.
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 at UTSA.
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.
Hot Hitting:
Four Roadrunner regulars hit .400 or better last week, led by junior Stacey Gillespie’s 6-for-12 (.500) performance. Junior Jessica Els was 7-for-15 (.467) with a .529 on-base percentage, while Jessica Rogers hit .421 with three home runs, five RBI and a .947 slugging percentage. Krystal Gibson batted .412 with three long balls, six runs and a team-best six RBI.
Ring Of Fire:
Ursula Mares has heated up the pitching circle over the past three weeks, posting an 8-2 record with a 1.84 ERA and one save. She has 75 strikeouts against just eight walks in 61.0 innings of work and has hurled three shutouts.
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 .286 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 15 contests. The transfer from Kansas is batting .366 (15-for-41) with three doubles, three home runs, 14 runs scored and eight RBI dating back to the UTEP Miner Invitational. For the year, Torres is hitting .273 with four two-baggers, five round-trippers, 15 RBI and 19 runs scored and has committed just one error in 67 chances at second base.
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. In the last 15 contests, the Cy-Fair High product is batting a team-best .488 (21-for-43) with one double, one triple, three home runs, seven runs and 13 RBI. Els now has emerged with the team’s second-highest batting average this season of .380.
Rogers On Record Pace:
Jessica Rogers is on a record-setting pace for hitting the long ball this season. The 2004 Southland Conference Softball Student-Athlete of the Year already has a national-best 13 long balls through the first 29 games (0.45 per game). Last year, Rogers hit 17 home runs, which ranks as the third-best season on school record, but she is within four of her own standard and nine of the UTSA record of 22 set by Christy Brownlee last season. Additionally, the 0.44 home runs per game average would rank first in conference history and fourth in the NCAA record books.
Gillespie Gets Going:
Stacey Gillespie entered a March 8 game with Evansville hitting .128 for the season. A 1-for-2 afternoon against the Purple Aces jump-started a week that saw the Round Rock native go 6-for-12 with a home run and three runs scored. For the week, Gillespie boosted her batting average by 75 points to her current .203 mark.
Murray Maintains Momentum:
During a two-week span in February, Aimee Murray batted .448 (13-for-29) with three doubles, three home runs and eight RBI. The Cy-Fair High product has maintained that momentum through the last three weeks, going 18-for-46 (.391) with four home runs, three doubles and a triple and a team-best .761 slugging percentage in the last 15 games. Also a solid glove at shortstop, Murray has just two errors in 48 chances over that span.
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 51 home runs through the first 29 games (1.76 per game). In the record-setting 2004 season, the Roadrunners had 37 long balls through the first 29 contests.
Nationally-Known:
UTSA’s prowess for hitting the long ball the past few seasons is well-known nationally and 2005 is no different. The Roadrunners have 51 home runs, or 21 more than their next closest competitors, Washington and Missouri. Here’s a look at the NCAA top six home run hitting teams by average:
Team HR Games Avg.
UTSA 51 29 1.76
Stanford 29 20 1.45
Washington 30 21 1.43
Missouri 30 22 1.36
Louisiana-Lafayette 29 23 1.26
Texas A&M 29 25 1.16
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 two victories to reach 200 with the Roadrunners.
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. Up Next:
UTSA returns home for a mid-week conference series with Northwestern State on Tuesday-Wednesday, March 22-23, at Roadrunner Field.
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