SAN ANTONIO - It became official with the end to the NCAA Division I softball season a few days ago - the UTSA softball team has shattered the NCAA single-season record for home runs per game with an amazing 105 home runs in 51 games for a 2.06 average. The Roadrunners first broke the record in 2004, slugging 101 long balls in 54 games for a 1.87 average to break Arizona’s previous mark of 1.83 set in 2001.
UTSA’s 105 this season broke its own school and Southland Conference record of 103 hit in 2005 and gives the Roadrunners three of the top six home run seasons in NCAA history (Arizona’s 126 in 2001, Michigan’s 103 in 2005 and Louisiana-Lafayette’s 102 this year are the others).
UTSA also extends its NCAA home run champion streak to four consecutive seasons dating back to 2003. The Roadrunners have launched 389 home runs in 220 games over the past four years for an average of 1.77 per game.
“It’s exciting to break the home run record to lead the nation for the fourth straight season,” first-year head coach Lori Cook said. “It was an honor to be able to coach and watch this team perform this season. Every year I think it will be difficult to surpass what the team did the year before, but our team’s expectations never change. They just continue to put up big numbers and break records.”
Six Roadrunners posted double-digit home run numbers, led by senior Amanda Horton’s 19 (right). She finished the season third in the nation with 0.37 homers per game behind Danyele Gomez of Louisiana-Lafayette (0.48) and Melanie Denischuk of Maryland-Baltimore County (0.38). She also tied for 14th in runs batted in per game with 50 in 51 games (0.98). Horton’s 19 round-trippers tied former All-American Amanda Michalsky for the third-best season in school history and she capped her career with 40, putting her fourth all-time.
Senior Jessica Els hit 15 home runs in 49 games to tie for 13th nationally at 0.31, while freshman Brittany Cantu tied for 18th at 0.28 with a freshman record-tying 13 in 47 games and junior Aimee Murray tied for 22nd 0.27 (13 in 48 games). Senior Mel Torres and freshman Rachel Rackley also reached double figures with 10 apiece.
Helped by the huge home run numbers, UTSA also led the NCAA in slugging percentage for the third straight year with a .575 mark, well ahead of Louisiana-Lafayette’s .540. The Roadrunners also ranked 17th in scoring (5.45 runs per game), 18th in batting average (.303) and 23rd in winning percentage, posting a 37-14 record for a school-record .725 winning percentage.
The Roadrunners captured their third consecutive SLC regular season title with a 22-5 mark and won the SLC Tournament for the second time in three years, advancing to the NCAA Regional in Austin. UTSA dropped a 4-0 decision to No. 3-seed Texas and a 3-2 heartbreaker to Utah to end its first season under Cook, who earned SLC Coach of the Year accolades.
