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Southwestern University

PIRATE SOFTBALL TO FACE UT TYLER IN OPENING ROUND OF NCAA TOURNAMENT

PIRATE SOFTBALL TO FACE UT TYLER IN OPENING ROUND OF NCAA TOURNAMENT
Posted: May 10, 2010

GEORGETOWN, Texas - The Southwestern Pirates will be traveling just one state to the East for their first-ever NCAA Regional and will face the University of Texas at Tyler in the first round of the double elimination regional hosted by Louisiana College. The game is set for May 14th at noon.

Southwestern comes into the tournament as the underdog, being seeded fifth out of six teams in the Regional and face the #2 seed in UT-Tyler. SU enters with a 31-11 record while the Patriots tout a 37-7 record on the season. The Patriots and the rest of the American Southwest Conference teams that make up the majority of the Regional are no stranger to Head Coach Angela Froboese and her lone senior Katelyn Gola. Both competed in the ASC prior to Southwestern beginning a program and will use that knowledge to their advantage.

The Pirates are hitting .302 on the season and are led by first-year, first baseman Haley Hughes. Hughes boasts a .404 batting average while making the most of her times at the plate with a .674 slugging percentage. Gola is deadly once she gets on base, which is often with a .348 batting average. She has stolen 16 bases this season and has scored a team high 36 runs. Five of the nine Pirate starters in the batting order are hitting above .300 on the season and this well-distributed power will serve Southwestern well.

UT Tyler is no slouch at the plate either, posting a .337 team batting average, led by first-year Joey Cronin's .415. The Patriots switch up their line-up often and have six hitters over .300 that have appeared in at least half of their games.

On the mound Southwestern is fortunate to have a deep, experienced pitching staff to keep hitters off balance. Lyndsy Maus and Kara Solomon have taken on the majority of the starting duties this season while Kaitlyn Pavlicek provides a new perspective in relief. The staff has a 2.86 ERA and is holding teams to a .302 batting average. Tyler relies heavily on two pitchers, Kimber Bossom and Stacy Shepherd. The duo have thrown 246.1 innings of the 291.2 the Patriots have played this year and they have been effective doing so with a 1.55 and 1.68 era, respectively.

Southwestern will have to be ready to go early as the Patriots score 72% of thier runs in the first four innings, including nearly one-quarter of them in the third inning alone. The Pirates strike even earlier with over 25% of their runs coming in the first inning. The big difference is the experience Southwestern has with late game wins as they have scored 35 runs this year in the seventh inning while UTT has only recorded 11 in the final frame all season.

The two teams haven't met this season but did face off early last year with the Patriots taking the win, 11-4.

Joining SU and UTT in the six team Regional are East Texas Baptist University (ASC), Mississippi College (ASC), LaVerne (SCIAC), and host institution Louisiana College (ASC). To view the bracket, please click here.

*NOTE: THE TIMES ON THE BRACKET ARE NOT THE TIMES AS SET BY THE REGIONAL SITE!!!