| March 17, 2005
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 Roadrunners host Northwestern State in key conference series Complete Release | Live Stats | Listen Live SAN ANTONIO - The UTSA softball begins a crucial week in the Southland Conference race with a three-game series against Northwestern State on Tuesday-Wednesday, March 22-23, at Roadrunner Field. First pitch both days is set for 1 p.m. UTSA Roadrunners (20-12, 4-2 SLC)
vs.
Northwestern State Demons (22-13, 8-1 SLC) Roadrunner Field • San Antonio, Texas Game 1: Tuesday, March 22 - 1 p.m.
Game 2: Tuesday, March 22 - 3 p.m.
Game 3: Wednesday, March 23 - 1 p.m. Quick Hits
• UTSA has won 19 consecutive games (8-0 this year) at Roadrunner Field dating back to a loss to Houston on March 10, 2004
• The Roadrunners have won 17 of their past 20 conference games
• Northwestern State leads the all-time series with UTSA, 27-22
• Head coach Corrie Hill needs one victory to reach 200 in her UTSA career.
• UTSA has an NCAA-best 55 home runs through the first 29 games (1.72 avg.)
Series History:
Northwestern State leads, 27-22
Last Meeting: UTSA 11, Northwestern State 3
May 2, 2004 • San Marcos, Texas
UTSA Tidbits:
UTSA has a 19-game home winning streak dating back to a 3-1 loss to Houston on March 10, 2004 … the Roadrunners are 8-0 at home this year … UTSA has won 17 of its past 20 Southland Conference regular season games and 21 of the last 24 including the 2004 conference tournament … UTSA has slugged 55 home runs through the first 32 games for an average of 1.72 home runs per game … that is a faster pace than the NCAA record-setting 2004 Roadrunners who had 45 through the first 32 contests … junior Jessica Els carries a seven-game hitting streak into Tuesday’s doubleheader and owns a team-high 12 multiple-hit games … junior Stacey Gillespie has collected a hit in five consecutive games and is batting a team-best .500 in league games … 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 on March 9 … senior Jennifer Davis posted a school-record five hits in the 11-4 win over Western Michigan on March 6 … Rogers has nine multiple-RBI games, including five in a 12-1 win over Centenary on Feb. 11 … 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 on Feb. 13, head coach Corrie Hill surpassed Chickie Mason as the school’s all-time winningest coach … Hill needs just one victory to reach 200 in her UTSA career.
Last Time Out:
UTSA dropped two of three games at Stephen F. Austin last weekend in Nacogdoches. The Roadrunners let a 4-1 lead slip away in the bottom of the seventh in game one as the Lady Jacks forced extra innings with a three-run frame and won the contest, 5-4, on a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the eighth. UTSA came back to take the nightcap, 7-2, behind two hits apiece from Krystal Gibson and juniors Mel Torres, Jessica Els and Jenny Garcia. SFA rallied from a 2-0 deficit with four unearned runs in the fourth to take the rubber game on Sunday, 5-2.
Scouting Northwestern State:
Winners of 12 of their last 15 contests, the Demons have been the Southland’s hottest team over the past three weeks. Northwestern State enters Tuesday’s doubleheader at 22-13 overall and in first place in the league with an 8-1 mark. The Demons swept a three-game home conference series from Nicholls State over the weekend. Nicole Martin (.418, 26 runs, 13 doubles), Shay Hunt (.366, eight homers, 24 RBI) and Margaret Patterson (.365, eight homers, 21 RBI) are the top offensive performers, while Loni Rasberry (12-3, 2.28 ERA, 81 strikeouts), Michelle Castellano (6-5, 3.09 ERA) and Amanda Glenn (2.53 ERA, seven saves) form a solid pitching staff. Head coach Mike Perniciaro is in his first season.
2004 Northwestern State Series Rewind:
UTSA took two of three games at Northwestern State in a key SLC series in Natchitoches last season. In a wild game one, the Roadrunners edged the Demons, 7-5, in eight innings behind back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the eighth from Aimee Murray and Krystal Gibson. Northwestern State came back to take the nightcap, 8-0, but UTSA won game three, also in eight innings, 3-2, on a solo home run from Gibson.
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 27 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 19-8 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 (1,069/record: 1,172). Jessica Rogers, a junior with 42 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 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, 63-30, in the first two innings combined and own an 192-101 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.
Name Game:
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 are batting .400 or better over the last six games, led by Stacey Gillespie’s .500 (8-for-16) performance. Jessica Els is hitting .474 (9-for-19), while Krystal Gibson and Jessica Rogers are both batting .421 (8-for-19). Rogers has four home runs and a team-high seven RBI over the stretch.
Ring Of Fire:
Ursula Mares has heated up the pitching circle over the past two weeks, posting 2-0 record and a 2.10 ERA. She has 12 strikeouts against just four walks and opponents are hitting only .190 off her in the last six contests. Freshman Amanda Nikolenko is 3-3 with a 2.19 ERA and 16 strikeouts in the month of March (eight appearances).
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 18 contests. The transfer from Kansas is batting .346 (18-for-52) with four doubles, four home runs, 18 runs scored and 10 RBI dating back to the UTEP Miner Invitational. For the year, Torres is hitting .273 with five two-baggers, six round-trippers, 17 RBI and 23 runs scored and has committed just two errors in 77 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 in the month of March. In the last 14 contests, the Cy-Fair High product is batting a team-best .463 (19-for-41) with two home runs and eight RBI. Els now boasts the team’s highest batting average of .389.
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 14 long balls through the first 32 games (0.44 per game). Last year, Rogers hit 17 home runs, which ranks as the third-best season on school record, but she is already within three of her own standard and eight 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. Over the last nine games, Gillespie has is hitting .409 and has pushed her season average to .217, an increase of 89 percentage points in two weeks.
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 55 home runs through the first 32 games (1.72 per game). In the record-setting 2004 season, the Roadrunners had 45 long balls through the first 32 contests.
Nationally-Known:
UTSA’s reputation for hitting the long ball the past few seasons is well-known nationally and 2005 is no different. The Roadrunners currently have 55 home runs, or 17 more than their next closest competitor, No. 4 Michigan. Here’s a look at the NCAA top six home run hitting teams by average:
Team HR Games Avg.
UTSA, 55, 32, 1.72
Stanford, 31, 22, 1.41
Washington, 35, 25, 1.40
Michigan, 38, 28, 1.36
Louisiana-Lafayette, 31, 27, 1.15
Texas A&M, 33, 30, 1.10
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 one win 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 travels to San Marcos for a three-game set at Texas State on Friday-Saturday, March 25-26.
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