2015 Sun Belt Softball Championship Set to Begin Wednesday
Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Complete PDF)
2015 Standings
2015 Schedule
2015 Statistics
Media Guide
Championship Information
Championship Bracket
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS – The 2015 Sun Belt Softball Championship is slated to start on Wednesday, May 6 from Bobcat Softball Stadium in San Marcos, Texas.
UL Lafayette claimed the regular season title and the top seed in the tournament with a three game sweep against UL Monroe this past weekend. The Cajuns were led by Sun Belt Softball Player of the Week Aleah Craighton who posted a .700 average with four home runs and nine RBI’s, and five runs. The freshman posted a slugging percentage of 1.900 for the week. The Ragin’ Cajuns earned their 13th regular season championship in 16 years of Sun Belt softball and will now seek to win their 13th tournament championship this week. Junior catcher Lexie Elkins leads the nation in home runs with 27 during the 2015 season.
South Alabama will be the second seed after winning two of three games against Troy in the final weekend of regular season play. Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week Kalen McGill recorded two complete game shutouts over the weekend to pick up her 15th and 16th victories. The Jaguars have relied on the pitching combination of the freshman McGill and senior Farish Beard. McGill is second in the conference with a 1.82 ERA on the season while Beard has a 1.58 ERA in conference play. South Alabama will be looking to make their fourth consecutive championship game appearance after claiming the title in 2012 and 2013. The Cajuns and Jaguars will receive a double bye and begin action on Thursday in the double-elimination portion of the tournament.
No. 3 seed Texas State will host the 2015 Sun Belt tournament for the first time after claiming a three game sweep over UT Arlington over the weekend. Freshman pitcher Randi Rupp leads the Bobcats in the circle as she has recorded 24 victories and the nation’s sixth best strikeout total of 284.
Troy will be the fourth seed in the tournament thanks to the pitching combination of senior Jaycee Affeldt and junior Ashley Rainey. Affeldt has an ERA of 2.51 the fifth best mark in the Sun Belt while Rainey ranks 10th among all qualified starters with an ERA of 3.40.
Georgia State will play Georgia Southern in the tournament’s opening game at 10 a.m. CT after defeating the Eagles in a three game set this past weekend. The no. 5 seed Panthers have slugged a Sun Belt high 98 home runs this year. Freshman Ivie Drake has been a large part of that with 21 round-trippers. The Panthers outscored the Eagles 33-14 in their three game set in Statesboro last weekend.
No. 6 seed UL Monroe will square off with no. 7 seed UT Arlington at 12:30 p.m. CT in the second game of the tournament. When the two teams met in mid-April there was not much separation as UT Arlington won the series two games to one by outscoring UL Monroe 21-20. However, the Mavericks needed extra innings in both of their wins to quell the Warhawks.
For up to date information about the 2015 Sun Belt Softball Championship go to the 2015 Sun Belt Softball Championship page.
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Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Complete PDF)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Aleah Craighton (UL Lafayette | Freshman | of)
Aleah Craighton posted team-bests with a .700 average, four home runs and nine RBI in the No. 10 Ragin’ Cajuns three-game sweep of ULM that clinched the Sun Belt regular season championship. Craighton homered twice in each game of Saturday’s doubleheader collecting her second and third multi-home run games of the season. She set a career-high with six RBI in Game 2 which upped her doubleheader total to nine RBI. Her two home runs in Game 1 of Saturday’s DH played a pivotal role in the Cajuns 9-3 win. The first was a solo shot that broke a 3-all tie in the fourth inning. She homered in her next at bat, a two-run blast in the fifth inning, to increase the Cajuns’ lead to 6-3. In Game 2, both home runs produced multiple runs. She launched a two-run homer in the third inning and in her next at bat hit her first career grand slam in the fourth inning to extend the lead into double digits at 13-0 in the championship clincher. Craighton was hit by a pitch in two of her four at bats in the series finale, but managed to go 2-for-2 with two stolen bases as Louisiana completed the sweep of ULM. The Cajuns’ right fielder completed the series 7-for-10 at the plate with five runs scored, four home runs and nine RBI. On the strength of the four home runs, her weekend slugging percentage was 1.900.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Kalen Mcgill (South Alabama| Freshman | RHP)
University of South Alabama freshman right-hander Kalen McGill recorded two complete-game victories this weekend, as the Jaguars clinched its fifth and final Sun Belt Conference series of the regular season. McGill allowed no earned runs in 14 innings pitched and struck out 13 to one walk and scattered 13 Trojan hits – only one went for extra bases – to improve to 16-2 on the year. The Gainesville, Fla., native fanned a season-high eight in game two to lead the Jags to a doubleheader split on Saturday. McGill carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning in that contest.
RECENT RESULTS
Monday, April 27, 2015
Georgia State 3 Florida State 6
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Appalachian State 7 ETSU 6
Appalachian State13 ETSU 14
Texas State 1 Texas A&M 2
Friday, May 1, 2015
Georgia State 4 Georgia Southern 1*
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Georgia State 19 Georgia Southern 6*
Georgia State 10 Georgia Southern 7*
Texas State 11 UT Arlington 0*
Texas State 2 UT Arlington 0*
South Alabama 3 Troy 6*
South Alabama 2 Troy 0*
UL Lafayette 9 UL Monroe 3*
UL Lafayette 20 UL Monroe 2*
Appalachian State 0 NC State 10
Appalachian State 1 NC State 10
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Texas State 11 UT Arlington 2*
UL Lafayette 9 UL Monroe 2*
South Alabama 4 Troy 1*
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Day 1 - Wednesday, May 6
Game 1
#8 Georgia Southern vs. #5 Georgia State - 10:00 AM
Game 2
#7 UT Arlington vs. #6 UL Monroe - 12:30 PM
Game 3
Winner Game 1 vs. #4 Troy - 3:00 PM
Game 4
Winner Game 2 vs. #3 Texas State - 5:30 PM
Day 2 - Thursday, May 7
Game 5
Winner Game 3 vs. #1 UL Lafayette - 2:00 PM
Game 6
Winner Game 4 vs. #2 South Alabama - 5:00 PM
Day 3 - Friday, May 8
Game 7 - ESPN3
Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6 - 11:00 AM
Game 8 - ESPN3
Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 - 2:00 PM
Game 9 - ESPN3
Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 7 - 5:00 PM
Day 4 - Saturday, May 9
Championship Game - ESPN3
Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 - 1:00 PM
All times C.T.
All Games To Be Played at Bobcat Softball Stadium in San Marcos, Texas
RPI RANKINGS
10 UL Lafayette - 37-8
29 South Alabama - 35-10
43 Georgia State - 35-20
60 Troy - 32-22
63 Texas State - 32-20
74 UL Monroe - 28-20
137 UT Arlington - 27-27
148 Georgia Southern - 12-38
191 Appalachian State - 14-35
WEEKLY NEWS AND NOTES
APPALACHIAN STATE
Cynthia Gomez led the Mountaineers in average during the 2015 season (.320) and also scored the most runs (33).
Caroline Chambers led the team in home runs with a career-high nine long balls, while Cara Parker was second with eight and Heather Josey third with seven. Sarah Warnock and Pepper Butler reached career-highs in home runs with five and six, respectively.
Warnock also set a career-high with 30 RBI to finish second on the team. She also finishes her career with 41 doubles (third all-time), .350 average (third all-time), 11 home runs (t-8th all-time). Josey led the team with 31 runs batted in.
Senior pitcher Alissa Schoelkopf finishes just 28 strikeouts shy of tying the program record for career punch outs. Schoelkopf finishes with 321 career strikeouts in just three seasons in the program. The record of 349 belongs to Kayla Richardson who pitched four seasons (2006-09).
As a team, the Mountaineer set a program record for home runs with 45 (previous record was 36). They also finished with the second-highest slugging percentage (.422), third-highest OBP (.347) and fourh-highest average (.267).
App State finished with 215 runs scored - good for fifth all-time.
They set single-game records for runs (20 - at Radford), RBI (19 - at Radford) and total bases (31 vs. Austin Peay).
For the first time in program history, Appalachian scored at least 14 runs in a game for three consecutive games (14, 17 and 20 in games at Georgia State and Radford).
GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Georgia Southern enters the 2015 Sun Belt Tournament on a run of three-straight seasons of reaching the semifinals or finals of their conference tournament. The Eagles won the SoCon Tournament in 2012 and 2013 as well as a semifinal appearance in 2014.
GEORGIA STATE
The Panthers, the No. 5 seed, will open the Sun Belt eight-team championship in San Marcos, Texas with a Wednesday game at 1:30 p.m. ET against the No. 8 seed, Georgia Southern. The winner of that game advances to play No. 4 seed Troy Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. ET.
GSU (35-20, 14-10) enjoyed a series sweep of Georgia Southern Friday and Saturday, winning 4-1, 19-6 and 10-7. GSU has won five of its last six Sun Belt games.
Georgia State enters as the third-highest RPI team in rugged Sun Belt with its No. 38 before sweeping last weekend. UL Lafayette is No. 10 and South Alabama No. 29 in the NCAA RPI. Troy is No. 58, Texas State No. 66 and UL Monroe No. 68 to give Sun Belt softball six teams in the top 70 in the country among the 295 Division I softball schools.
The Panthers have an offense that is setting school records and in the top 20 in the nation in almost every category. The team averages 7.1 runs a game (391 scored), bats .341, while banging out 98 home runs and 87 doubles in the 55 games. When pitchers avoid them, the batters have accepted 192 base on balls, which is just as good as a hit.
Freshman catcher Ivie Drake apparently will own about every school record whenever she finishes her first year as she adds to these school records in batting .462, with 21 HR, 64 RBI and 56 runs scored. Callie Alford holds the school HR record with 38 after a 15-HR senior campaign this spring to go with her .381 batting average. Avoid those two in the line-up and waiting to greet a pitcher are Megan Litumbe (19 HR, 54 HR), Lauren Coleman (15 HR, 56 RBI), Ashley Christy (.366, 20 for 20 stolen bases) or Taylor Anderson (.358, 14 of 15 stolen bases).
The pitching staff includes 17-5 Taylor Thorpe, 11-9 Katie Worley and 5-3 Chelsea Stanford. Worley has 134 strikeouts in 115 innings
UL LAFAYETTE
Louisiana has been ranked in the Top 10 of both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls for 11 of the season’s 12 weeks. The Cajuns were in the Top 10 of the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll for the first 11 weeks (Feb. 10-Apr. 21), establishing a new school record for consecutive weeks spent inside the Top 10.
No. 10 Louisiana claimed the 2015 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship after last Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of ULM. The Cajuns won the title for the second straight season and 13th time in the 15 years of regular season competition.
The Cajuns list of Sun Belt regular season championship seasons includes: 2001-06, 2008-12 and 2014-15.
The Cajuns were listed at No. 10 in the most recent NCAA RPI report, potentially lining up the team to host a NCAA Regional at Lamson Park for the second straight season and third time in the past four seasons (hosted in 2012 and 2014).
Louisiana earned the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament for the 14th time in the 16-year history of the event (began in 2000). The Ragin’ Cajuns received a bye in the quarterfinal round and open tournament play on Thursday, May 7 at 2 p.m.
Previous Sun Belt Tournament championships for the Cajuns include: 2000-06, 2008-11 and 2014.
Louisiana closed out Sun Belt Conference regular season play on a 10-game win streak posting a three-game sweep of Georgia State (Apr. 3-4), doubleheader sweep of App State (Apr. 18) and three-game sweep of in-state foe ULM (May 2-3).
The Ragin’ Cajuns won all eight Sun Belt Conference series en route to the regular season championship: 2-1 vs. USA, 3-0 vs. UTA, 3-0 vs. GASO, 2-1 vs. TROY, 2-1 vs. TXST, 3-0 vs GAST, 2-0 vs. APP, 3-0 vs. ULM.
Louisiana excelled against Sun Belt Conference pitching, hitting .398 and slugging .774 in league play. Four players hit above .400 against SBC pitchers: Lexie Elkins (.541, 20 HR), Shellie Landry (.438, 11 HR), Kelsey Vincent (.424, 13 HR) and Haley Hayden (.418, 4 HR).
The Ragin’ Cajuns hit 97 home runs over 45 games during the regular season, an average of 2.16 per game which leads the nation. The squad is three home runs shy of joining the 2006 team (hit 102) as the only two teams in program history to reach 100 home runs and six shy of establishing a new record.
Louisiana seeks to join a list of softball programs with multiple 100 home runs seasons in NCAA history that includes: Arizona (1995, 2001, 2009, 2014), Florida (2010, 2011), Georgia Tech (2010, 2011) and UTSA (2004, 2005, 2006).
Lexie Elkins has 27 home runs, a total which tops all hitters nationally. She is three home runs shy of tying Danyele Gomez’s single-season record 30 hit in 2006.
Lexie Elkins has hit 20-plus home runs in back-to-back seasons (24 in 2014, 27 in 2015) joining Danyele Gomez, Christi Orgeron and Holly Tankersley as the only players in program history to reach 20 home runs in a season twice in a career.
Lexie Elkins has hit 51 home runs in a Cajuns uniform after transferring from Texas Tech after the 2013 season. Elkins did not homer in 47 games played as a freshman for the Red Raiders.
Senior pitcher Jordan Wallace picked up career strikeout No. 863 on Sunday at ULM and moved past Ashley Brignac (862 from 2008-12) for second place in program history.
Jordan Wallace needs two wins to reach career No. 90 which would make her only the fourth pitcher in program history to amass 90-plus career wins joining a list that includes Brooke Mitchell (119), Kyla Hall (104) and Ashley Brignac (94). Presently with 88 career wins, she trails Ashley Brignac (94 wins from 2008-12) by six wins for third place.
Jordan Wallace has 183 strikeouts this season, leaving her 17 shy of reaching 200 strikeouts in a season for the second time in her career (tallied 382 as a sophomore in 2013).
Senior pitcher Christina Hamilton’s two wins in starts in the ULM series allowed her to complete her collegiate career undefeated in her final 21 Sun Belt Conference regular season starts.
Including Sun Belt Tournament games, Christina Hamilton sports a career record of 24-3 vs. Sun Belt Conference schools.
UL MONROE
The Warhawks matched 2014’s regular season finish and head into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the sixth seed. ULM will open play with UT Arlington. The Mavericks swept the regular season series in a battle of back-and-forth games.
With 28 wins on the season, ULM has picked up the most wins in a single season since 2001 when the program won 32 games.
Finishing the regular season with 10 conference wins, ULM tied the single-season record set in 2011 for most SBC wins in a single season.
The Warhawks have set a new team record for the most runs scored in a single season with 267 runs thus far in 2015. The previous record of 264 was set in the 2011 season.
ULM has set a set team record for the most RBI in a single season with 231 thus far in 2015. The previous record of 224 was held by the 2011 and 2014 team.
With 26 runs batted in, Junior Faith Bohack has tied the single-season RBI record that was set by Casey Goodman in the 2006 season.
Senior Alexis Cacioppo has brought her career RBI total to 127 to sit fourth on the career RBI leaderboard. She is four RBI shy of moving into third place and six RBI shy of taking over second place on the all-time standings. Casey Goodman holds the all-time record with 147 RBI in her career.
SOUTH ALABAMA
No. 22 University of South Alabama takes part in its eighth Sun Belt Conference Tournament in the program’s nine years of existence this week when it travels to San Marcos, Texas, for the event, hosted by Texas State on May 6-9.
USA (35-10) claimed the two seed for the tournament after finished 16-4 in SBC play, claiming five of six league series played. The Jaguars begin play at the tournament on Thursday at 5 p.m. when they face the winner of Game 4 [Winner Game 2 (No. 7 Texas-Arlington vs. No. 6 Louisiana-Monroe) vs. No. 3 Texas State] after earning a bye through the first round of play.
Regular-season champion No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette (37-8) also earned a bye through the first round after earning the tournament’s top seed with a series sweep of in-state rival Louisiana-Monroe last weekend.
South Alabama will look to make its fourth straight tournament final appearance this week after claiming the championship crown in 2012 and ’13 and falling to the Ragin’ Cajuns in the final last year in Lafayette, La.
UT ARLINGTON
UT Arlington closed out the regular season on a sour note as it was swept by Texas State in a three-game series. The Bobcats handed the Mavericks their eighth loss of the last nine games as UTA heads into the Sun Belt Championship as the seventh seed in the tournament. UTA gave up 23 runs to Texas State, however, out of the 23 runs, 17 were scored in the fifth or sixth inning.
Mya Anderson helped provide a bright note to the weekend as she powered her 13th homer of the season to tie for second in UTA single-season history. Senior Meagan Michele helped with a senior weekend performance as she tied for the single-season record for extra-base hits with a double in Game 2 of the series.
The Mavericks look to bounce back as they have confidence heading into the SBC first round. The Mavs face ULM, a team that they were able to take two of the three games when the teams met earlier this season in Monroe. UTA is 1-1 all-time in the Sun Belt Championship after its first season in 2014. The Mavs defeated Texas State in the first round last year before falling to Western Kentucky to close the year.
TEXAS STATE
The Texas State softball team clinched the No. 3 seed in the 2015 Sun Belt Conference tournament after sweeping the UT Arlington Mavericks this past weekend. Texas State currently has won eight out of the last night games including the last eight conference games. Against UT Arlington, the 2015 Bobcats tied the program record of 59 home runs set back in 2003. Ariel Ortiz was responsible for tying that program benchmark after launching two in game three of the series.
Ortiz finished the 2015 regular season much like she started it as she finished the UT Arlington series going 5-for-9 with eight RBI and three home runs for Texas State. In the third game of the UT Arlington series, Ortiz hit two home runs, scored three runs, and knocked in a career-high five RBI for the Bobcats.
With the two home runs against UTA, Ortiz helped the 2015 Bobcats tie the all-time program record of 59 in a season. With a team-high 12 homers, Ortiz has recorded the most home runs by a freshman in program history.
Ortiz finished the week with two multi-hit games, bumping her 2015 total up to 17. With three RBIs in game one of the UTA series and five in game three, Ortiz also improves her multi-RBI total to 11 games. She is the only Bobcat this season to record five RBIs in a single game.
Freshman pitcher Randi Rupp finished the 2015 campaign earning all three victories in the conference series against UT Arlington while finishing the week with a 3-1 overall record and a 1.40 ERA. Rupp earned her 10th and 11th shutouts of the season Saturday afternoon after pitching 13.0 scoreless innings against the Mavericks. In the Saturday doubleheader sweep, Rupp struck out 13 batters while walking just one.
With three victories this weekend, Rupp improves her win total to a conference-high 24 games and she finished the regular season with a conference leading 284 strikeouts. Her strikeout total moves her into third all-time in Texas State history for strikeouts in a season.
Rupp finished the regular season winning eight out of the final nine contests for the Bobcats with the only defeat coming against No. 25 Texas A&M. In the final nine games of the season, Rupp posted a 0.85 ERA and in the final six conference games, she had a 0.81 ERA.
The Bobcats finished the regular season with a 32-20 overall record and 14-6 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. This marked the first winning season for the Bobcats since 2012.
TROY
Troy went 1-2 on the week with a series loss to in-state rival No. 22 South Alabama. The Trojans won the first game 6-3, but dropped the last two games, 2-0 and 4-1.
Carli Kayler gave the Trojans a lift in the first game with a three-run shot in the fourth inning to put the Trojans up 4-3. Troy added one more run in the fourth on an RBI single by Hannah Day.
Day went 3-for-4 in the game with two RBIs and Kate Benton had a two hit performance.
Affeldt pitched a complete game and struck out six and only allowed two earned runs in the game.
The second game was a pitchers duel as Ashley Rainey got the start and only allowed one hit through six innings, but allowed a double and then a home run in the seventh that lifted No. 22 South Alabama past Troy, 2-0.
Kate Benton provided the only run for the Trojans in game three as she had a 4-for-4 performance. She led off the game with an infield single and came all the way around to score on a throwing error by the Jaguar third baseman.