UNC Greensboro (17-28, 6-9 SoCon) at College of Charleston (28-18, 11-7 SoCon)
Saturday, April 21 - 1 p.m. (doubleheader)Sunday, April 22 - 1 p.m.
Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (Patriots Point)
Webstream - Live Stats - Twitter
GLANCING AT THE COUGARS
The Cougars are attempting to put the brakes on a five-game losing streak which they extended when they dropped a doubleheader at crosstown-rival Charleston Southern on Wednesday afternoon. The Cougars scored four runs on the day and three of them came on solo homeruns by Mackenzie Maples (Corona, Calif.), Lizzy Vaughn (Placerville, Calif.) and Kelsey Hodgson (Woodstock, Ga.) The Cougars have now hit four home runs in their past four games. Carly Corthell (Reno, Nev.) went 3-for-4 in game two and had four total hits to lead the Cougars on the day. CofC doomed itself by committing five fielding errors on the day which led to five unearned runs.
The five-game skid is a season long for the Cougars and it comes on the coattails of the Cougars' previous 11-game winning streak, also a season long.
The Cougars have relied on sound pitching and defense all season long and, as of the last statistical update on April 16, rank 24th in the nation with a team ERA of 1.85. That mark rose slightly to 1.91 after the CSU doubleheader.
Stephanie Saylors (Easley, S.C.) ranked 24th individually in ERA at the last update and has a 1.43 ERA and 147 strikeouts through 152.0 innings in the circle. Freshman Hope Klicker (Walla Walla, Wash.) is the reigning SoCon Pitcher of the Week and posts a 1.92 ERA this season. Saylors' ERA leads the SoCon and Klicker's ranks fourth.
Corthell's batting average continues to be on the rise as the sophomore now has 11 hits in CofC's last six games. This run has elevated her to a team-high .325 batting average on the season. Corthell's speed on the bases is a threat as well as she leads the SoCon in stolen bases with 19.
Maples is on a six-game reaching-base streak and hit the second homerun of her career in game one of Tuesday's doubleheader.
The Cougars are averaging 6.85 hits per game which is better than the 5.46 hits per game of their opponents. CofC averages 3.65 runs per game off of 3.28 RBIs per game.
CofC has been getting production out of all spots in the lineup and is averaging better than one run every time they turn the lineup over. On average, the Cougars have scored a run in every 8.3 plate appearances.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
The Spartans were also in a five-game spin until they won the first game of a doubleheader at Radford on Tuesday, April 17. The Spartans claimed the first game, 4-3, in nine innings with Elieen Horsmon driving in all four runs for the Spartans. Horsmon and the rest of the Spartan hitters were silenced in the finale, however, as Radford blanked UNCG in a 2-0 win in game two.
Both the Cougars and Spartans were swept by Georgia Southern in their last SoCon series. The Spartans were outscored, 23-7, by the Eagles back on the weekend of Saturday, April 7 and were off on their bye week last weekend.
UNCG sits in second-to-last place in the SoCon in both team pitching and team batting this season. The Spartans are batting .243 as a team with their opponents batting .288 against them. Senior Alex Emeterio leads the bunch with a .331 batting average from the third-spot in the lineup.
Aisha Figueroa has been the regular leadoff hitter and has a .370 on-base percentage and has scored 31 runs this season.
Horsmon hits cleanup and appropriately leads the team in RBIs with 40 on the year.
The pitching staff is burdened with carrying a 4.41 ERA on the year. Corry Mattson has spent the most time in the circle and has a 3.76 ERA in 143.1 innings pitched. Erica Navarette is the other regular pitcher and has a 4.55 ERA through 123.0 innings of work.
THE SERIES
The Spartans possess a narrow 25-23 advantage in this all-time series. UNCG has claimed the last two series wins with a rain-shortened sweep of the Cougars in 2010 and two out of three in Greensboro, N.C., last season.
The Cougars had the last laugh, however, as they eliminated UNCG from the Southern Conference Championships in last season's semifinals and the Cougars advanced to the championship game with a 2-0 victory over the Spartans.
Kelsey Hodgson (Woodstock, Ga.) singled to bring home Corthell in the first inning to score what would become the winning run.
SENIOR DAY
As this is the last home series, the CofC will host Senior Day and commemorate the special career of their lone senior, Amanda Lonergan. Lonergan has played in 166 games as a Cougar and is a lifetime .262 hitter with 66 RBIs to her name.
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE FOR THE DOUBLEHEADER
The production team will be back in action this weekend with a full webstream of all three games of the series. CofCSports.com will provide both the live webstream and live stats with animated play-by-play.
The webstream requires a subscription but offers a multiple-camera broadcast with play-by-play commentary and analysis. The live stats are available at no charge.
As a special treat for viewers, former assistant coach Kat Ihlenburg and last year's seniors Kristi Woodall and Katie Pesature will put on the headsets and call game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
FOLLOW THE COUGARS:
Another great way of keeping up with the CofC softball team is through the team's own Twitter account (@CofCSoftball). The account provides pictures, team activities, statuses when the team is on the road and in-game thoughts and updates.
