· Game notes (.pdf)
SAN ANTONIO — UTSA makes its first-ever trip to California to compete in the UCSB Mini-Tournament on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 23-25, at Campus Diamond. The Roadrunners open against UC Santa Barbara at 10 a.m. Central on Friday, and will play Santa Clara at 2 p.m. UTSA faces Northern Illinois (2 p.m.) and Santa Clara (4 p.m.) on Saturday and Northern Illinois (11 a.m.) again on Sunday.
UTSA Roadrunners (3-7) at UCSB Mini-Tournament
Friday-Sunday, Feb. 23-25
Campus Diamond (500) • Santa Barbara, Calif.
UTSA Schedule
Friday, Feb. 23
UTSA at UC Santa Barbara (10 a.m.)
UTSA vs. Santa Clara (2 p.m.)
Saturday, Feb. 24
UTSA vs. Northern Illinois (2 p.m.)
UTSA vs. Santa Clara (4 p.m.)
Sunday, Feb. 25
UTSA vs. Northern Illinois (11 a.m.)
(all times Central)
Series Histories: UTSA owns a 2-1 series record against Santa Clara, with all three games (9-3 and 2-0 victories and a 3-2 loss) occurring in the 1997 Hawaii Tournament. UTSA is 1-1 all-time against Northern Illinois, splitting a doubleheader (W 2-1; L 2-6) on Feb. 11, 1992, in UTSA’s inaugural season. The Roadrunners have never faced UC Santa Barbara on the softball diamond.
Tough Slate: UTSA has played a tough schedule in 2007, with two games against teams ranked in the top five of this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Polls. The Roadrunners faced No. 5 Alabama in the CenturyTel Classic and No. 2/4 Texas A&M at the Aggie Classic. UTSA will face three more teams (Baylor, LSU and Texas) that made the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Making History: Junior right-hander Amanda Nikolenko tossed the eighth no-hitter in school history last Friday in a 10-0 victory over Rutgers at the Aggie Classic. The Ashland, Mo., native struck out five and allowed just two walks and a hit batter in becoming only the fifth different Roadrunners to hold a team hitless in 16 seasons of softball.
A New Era: Lori Cook enters her second year as head coach after guiding the Roadrunners to one of the most successful seasons in school history in 2006. UTSA was 37-14 overall, won its third consecutive SLC regular season title with a 22-5 mark, won the SLC Tournament for the second time in three years and made its second NCAA Tournament appearance.
