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New Orleans - UL Lafayette's DJ Sanders and Texas State's Randi Rupp have been named as the Community Coffee Softball Student-Athlete and Pitcher of the Week.
Sanders, the shortstop for the Ragin' Cajuns,belted four home runs, posted a series-high seven RBI and slugged 2.125 in the first collegiate games she played in her home state during the Ragin’ Cajuns three-game sweep of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.
She finished 5-for-8 (.625 avg.) at the plate in the series, four of the five hits being home runs. She scored multiple runs all three games, accounting for eight total, and posted three multiple-RBI games in reaching seven RBI in the series. Adding in three walks, she reached base eight times in 11 plate appearances. She homered twice in the series opener, tying her season-and career-high set earlier this season vs. UAB in Gulf Shores. The three RBI she posted in the opener marked the third straight game totaling the amount. In the series finale on Sunday that clinched the three-game sweep, she launched a two-run home run in the fourth inning to help the Cajuns erase a 1-0 deficit and later scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning – breaking a 2-2 tie – after drawing a one-out walk and crossing home plate on a bases loaded, fielder’s choice grounder by Kelli Martinez.
Rupp, the Preseason Pitcher of the Year, is Pitcher of the Week for the first time this season. The sophomore earned her 11th win and second save of the season after leading the Bobcats to a perfect 6-0 week.
Rupp earned her third victory over a Big 12 opponent this season, tossing seven complete innings and striking out six against No. 24 Texas. The win against Texas was the first victory over the Longhorns in six seasons. In a tight, eight-inning game against Purdue, Rupp recorded a season-high 13 strikeouts, allowing only one unearned run. Against Penn, Rupp went three innings while striking out five batters en route to her third victory of the week. She earned her second save of the season against Detroit where she struck out another five batters in three innings of work. Rupp is second in the conference with 104 strikeouts, but leads the conference with 37 strikeouts looking. Rupp also leads the conference with 11 wins. Rupp holds a commanding 1.51 ERA and 11-3 record this season.
UT Arlington continued their undefeated streak after recorded their 18th win. Behind a dominant performance on the mound by Samantha Clakley and timely hitting, UT Arlington softball finished off the sweep of Southeastern Louisiana with a 5-0 win on Sunday. The Mavericks remained undefeated and improved on the best start in UTA Athletics history to improving to 18-0. The Mavs, closing a season-long eight-game road trip, return to Allan Saxe Field on Friday for the highly anticipated Maverick Classic when they host Arizona, Texas and Samford.
Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week
DJ Sanders, UL Lafayette, Sophomore, Shortstop
Sanders, the shortstop for the Ragin' Cajuns,belted four home runs, posted a series-high seven RBI and slugged 2.125 in the first collegiate games she played in her home state during the Ragin’ Cajuns three-game sweep of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.
She finished 5-for-8 (.625 avg.) at the plate in the series, four of the five hits being home runs. She scored multiple runs all three games, accounting for eight total, and posted three multiple-RBI games in reaching seven RBI in the series. Adding in three walks, she reached base eight times in 11 plate appearances. She homered twice in the series opener, tying her season-and career-high set earlier this season vs. UAB in Gulf Shores. The three RBI she posted in the opener marked the third straight game totaling the amount. In the series finale on Sunday that clinched the three-game sweep, she launched a two-run home run in the fourth inning to help the Cajuns erase a 1-0 deficit and later scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning – breaking a 2-2 tie – after drawing a one-out walk and crossing home plate on a bases loaded, fielder’s choice grounder by Kelli Martinez.
Community Coffee Pitcher of the Week
Randi Rupp, Texas State, Sophomore, RHP
Sophomore Randi Rupp earned her 11th win and second save of the season after leading the Bobcats to a perfect 6-0 week. Rupp earned her third victory over a Big 12 opponent this season, tossing seven complete innings and striking out six against No. 24 Texas. The win against Texas was the first victory over the Longhorns in six seasons. In a tight, eight-inning game against Purdue, Rupp recorded a season-high 13 strikeouts, allowing only one unearned run. Against Penn, Rupp went three innings while striking out five batters en route to her third victory of the week. Rupp earned her second save of the season against Detroit where she struck out another five batters in three innings of work. Rupp is second in the conference with 104 strikeouts, but leads the conference with 37 strikeouts looking. Rupp also leads the conference with 11 wins. Rupp holds a commanding 1.51 ERA and 11-3 record this season.
Recent Results
March 1
UL Monroe at LSU L, 8-0
March 2
Kennesaw State at Georgia State W, 2-1
at Texas State W, 9-5
March 4
Texas State at Purdue W, 2-1
Appalachian State at Marshall W, 4-3
Georgia State at Indiana L, 3-0
Texas State at South Florida W, 8-2
Troy at Youngstown State W, 10-8
NDSU at Georgia Southern W, 8-1
South Alabama at Florida A&M W, 7-3
UL Monroe vs. Alabama L, 11-0
UL Monroe vs. DePaul L, 6-0
March 5
Appalachian State at Loyola-Chic L, 9-0
Texas State at Penn W, 9-1
South Alabama at Illinois State W, 4-3
Troy at Indiana State W, 10-9
Appalachian State at Campbell W, 16-9
South Alabama at Florida L, 9-0
Troy at Lipscomb L, 2-0
UL Lafayette at Southern Miss W, 13-0
UT Arlington at SLU W, 8-3
North Dakota at Georgia Southern L, 9-1
UL Lafayette at Southern Miss W, 17-0
UT Arlington at SLU W, 3-1
Harvard at Georgia Southern W, 12-2
Texas State at Detroit W, 5-3
UL Monroe at DePaul L, 8-0
March 6
South Alabama at FIU L, 3-2
Texas State at IPFW W, 9-0
UT Arlington at SLU W, 5-0
Troy at Furman W, 6-5
UL Lafayette at Southern Miss W, 6-2
EKU at Georgia Southern W, 1-0
Georgia State at Auburn L, 9-0
UL Monroe vs. Alabama L, 5-0
Upcoming Schedule
March 6
South Alabama at FIU Gainesville, Fla. 9:00 AM
Texas State at IPFW Clearwater, Fla. 10:00 AM
UT Arlington at SLU Hammond, La. 11:00 AM
Troy at Furman Nashville, Tenn. 12:00 PM
UL Lafayette at USM Hattiesburg, Miss. 1:00 PM
EKU at Georgia Southern Statesboro, Ga. 1:30 PM
Georgia State at Auburn Auburn, Ala. 1:30 PM
UL Monroe at NDSU Tuscaloosa, Ala. TBA
March 8
Troy at UAB Birmingham, Ala. 4:00 PM
Troy at UAB Birmingham, Ala. 6:00 PM
March 9
Appalachian State at UNCG Greensboro, N.C. 12:00 PM
Appalachian State at UNCG Greensboro, N.C. 2:00 PM
Boston College at GSU Atlanta, Ga. 2:00 PM
Longwood at UL Lafayette Lafayette, La. 6:00 PM
TX AMCC at Texas State San Marcos, Texas 6:00 PM
March 11
Texas at UT Arlington Arlington, Texas 6:00 PM
Samford at UT Arlington Arlington, Texas 1:00 PM
March 12
Georgia Southern at TXST* San Marcos, Texas 1:00 PM
Georgia State at Troy* Troy, Ala. 1:00 PM
App State at UL Monroe* Monroe, La. 1:00 PM
USA at UL Lafayette* Lafayette, La. 2:00 PM
Georgia Southern at TXST* San Marcos, Texas 3:00 PM
Georgia State at Troy* Troy, Ala. 3:00 PM
App State at UL Monroe* Monroe, La. 3:00 PM
USA at UL Lafayette* Lafayette, La. 4:00 PM
Arizona at UT Arlington Arlington, Texas 6:00 PM
March 13
Samford at UT Arlington Arlington, Texas 11:00 AM
Georgia Southern at TXST* San Marcos, Texas 12:00 PM
Georgia State at Troy* Troy, Ala. 12:00 PM
AppState at UL Monroe* Monroe, La. 12:00 PM
USA at UL Lafayette* Lafayette, La. 1:00 PM
News and Notes
Mavs Cap Road Trip in Perfect Style
Behind a dominant performance on the mound by Samantha Clakley and timely hitting, UT Arlington softball finished off the sweep of Southeastern Louisiana with a 5-0 win on Sunday. The Mavericks remained undefeated and improved on the best start in UTA Athletics history to improving to 18-0. The Mavs, closing a season-long eight-game road trip, return to Allan Saxe Field on Friday for the highly anticipated Maverick Classic when they host Arizona, Texas and Samford. UTA opens the tournament with the No. 24 Longhorns on Friday at 6 p.m. Clakley was masterful in the circle, not allowing a hit until a two-out bunt in the fourth. Of her three hits allowed, only one left the infield. Clakley improved to 8-0, throwing her eighth complete game of the season. “Sam did a great job hitting her spots and mixing her speeds up,” UT Arlington coach Kristie Fox said. “She has shown a lot of composer on the mound and it relaxes our whole defense.” Laura Curry recorded the only multiple hit game for either team going 2-for-4 with a run. Mallory Foster and Rebecca Stokes drove in multiple runs in the game. Foster drove in the first two in the top of the first, while Stokes capped off the scoring with a two-run home run in the seventh, her first of the season. Sandra Mendoza snapped her career-high 17-game hit streak, but extended her reached base to 18 games with a walk to start off the game. UTA wasted no time getting on the board, scoring two in the first. Mendoza and Britnea Barilli each drew walks in the opening frame and came around to score on a two-RBI single off the bat of Foster. The Mavs added onto their lead in the sixth with Curry coming around to score after leading off the inning with a single. The Lions made noise in the bottom of the sixth by drawing a walk, followed by a bunt single, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat. Clakley retired the side in the seventh to secure the Maverick win. “I am very impressed with how our team has shown up everyday with a lot of energy and focus,” Fox said. “We need to take that approach into next weekend and not make any one game bigger than the other.
Camp Sparkles in Softball’s Win Over EKU
Behind a sterling effort from Kierra Camp in the circle, the Georgia Southern softball team wrapped up at the Eagle Classic Sunday with a 1-0 win over Eastern Kentucky at Eagle Field to finish the weekend 4-0 and run its winning streak to six games.bIt was a scoreless affair through most of the game as both teams had legitimate scoring chances, but both pitchers escaped the jams throughout.bIn the sixth inning, Lydia Witkowski led off for the Eagles with a triple to right field and she came home on Taylor Rogers’ sacrifice fly to left field. That would be the only run scored, but it would be enough. The Eagles had just three hits, coming from Witkowski, Morgan Robinson and Hannah Farrell, but capitalized when they had their best chance. Camp (W, 4-4) was brilliant in the circle, going the distance for the shut out. The sophomore allowed just four hits and six walks with a career-high seven strikeouts. It was the first 1-0 win for GS softball since May 4, 2013 at home against Appalachian State. The six-game winning streak is the longest since 2014 when the Eagles won seven in a row. The Eagles will next head to Texas for their Spring Break trip where they will open Sun Belt Conference play next weekend at Texas State, play a doubleheader at nationally-ranked Texas A&M and will finish up with a tournament at Texas Tech.
App State Drops 1-0 Pitchers’ Duel to Loyola
Loyola-Chicago defeated Appalachian State University softball with the run rule, 9-0, on Saturday, but Sunday was a much different story between the two teams. The Ramblers and Mountaineers engaged in an all-out pitchers’ duel with Loyola-Chicago coming out on top, 1-0. “Today was a great ballgame that could have gone either way,” said head coach Janice Savage. “I’m proud of our girls for bouncing back after yesterday against this team and playing a tight game with them today. Our pitchers threw very well and made great improvements today. We are heading in the right direction before we start conference play, which is very exciting.” App State falls to 4-15 on the season while the Ramblers improved to 12-4 and have won nine of their last 10 contests. The Black and Gold’s four base knocks came from four different hitters including Natalie Orcutt, Heather Josey, Cara Parker, and Megan Walker. In the circle, Vanessa Ciocatto (2-7) got the start and was brilliant. The junior hurler pitched 5.1 innings and gave up just one earned run on four hits with one walk and a season-high six strikeouts. Since Feb. 13, Ciocatto has lowered her ERA from 8.56 down to 4.23. In relief, Annaleise Kennedy tossed 1.2 innings of no-hit softball with one strikeout. The game was without a run through the first four innings before Loyola-Chicago broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fifth. In that frame, the first batter, Kasubke, walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Cordell. One out later, Jenkins hit a lazy pop fly to shallow center with Pepper Butler coming on to field it, but the senior lost the ball in the sun and Kasubke scored from second for the game’s lone run. Jones (5-1) was the winner for the Ramblers as she went the distance and gave up four hits with one free pass and nine punchouts. That one walk was to Jenny Dodd who extended her reached-base streak to 12 games. Next up, Appalachian State travels to UNCG on Wednesday for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
GSU Drops Doubleheader to Ranked Auburn
Georgia State (11-10) was swept in the doubleheader at No. 3/4 Auburn (20-1) Sunday to wrap up the Wilson/Demarini Classic at Jane B. Moore Field. The Panthers return home to host Boston College Wednesday at Panthersville.
Game 1: Georgia State 0, Auburn 7
Senior Katie Worley got the start and took a no-hitter into the third inning before giving up a two-run home run. That would be her only hit allowed as Worley went 3.0 innings and recorded three strikeouts, but was hit with her second loss of the season. Georgia State had runners in scoring position in the second and sixth innings, but couldn’t come up with the big hit. Ivie Drake led off the sixth with a single to extend her hitting streak to a team-best 11 games. Auburn took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth before breaking open the game with four hits and two GSU errors to go up by the final score of 7-0. Entering the weekend, Auburn’s offense was averaging more than 11 hits per game. Worley, combined with Chelsea Stanfield and Taylor Thorpe, held the Tigers to just five hits in Sunday’s contest.
Game 2: Auburn 9, Georgia State 0 (6 innings)
Sophomore Annie Davis went four innings and gave up four runs on four hits. The Panther offense was held to just two hits while the Tigers finished with 11. Georgia State stayed close until the Tigers posted back-to-back three-run frames in the fifth and sixth innings to take the 9-0 lead. Mandy Blackwell and Morgan Brown recorded the lone hits for GSU in the second game. Ivie Drake’s 11-game hitting streak was snapped just two games shy of tying her career-best 13-game streak from 2015. Georgia State is back at home for another midweek matchup Wednesday as Boston College comes to Atlanta.
ERRORS HAUNT JAG SOFTBALL IN 3-2 LOSS TO FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
Dominique Grossman’s sacrifice fly in the seventh inning lifted Florida International over South Alabama, 3-2, as the Panthers took advantage of several Jaguar defensive miscues, scoring three runs on only three hits for a come-from-behind victory on Sunday. USA (10-8) finishes the 2016 Aquafina Invitatinoal with a 2-2 record after defeating Florida A&M and Illinois State at the event and losing to No. 1 Florida and FIU. The Jaguars begin Sun Belt Conference play next weekend with a three-set at Louisiana-Lafayette. “We are better than how we’re playing,” said USA head coach Becky Clark. “We’re doing some things really well and having some breakdowns in other areas. We’ll have a good week of practice this week to get some of those things figured out.” South Alabama took a 2-0 lead over the Panthers (13-8) in the first inning, before committing a pair of costly errors in the top of the third. Kristian Foster drove in Emily Messer for USA’s first run in the opening frame, and Alex Breeden doubled the Jaguar lead to 2-0 with a bases-loaded walk. That lead slipped away in the third inning, beginning with a Jaguar throwing error that allowed leadoff Deven Kennedy to reach. Kennedy was bunted over to second by Grossman, scoring on the next play when Jaguar catcher Paige Holmes misplayed a tag at home, and the ball flew from her glove into the USA dugout. Ashley Leon then singled up the middle to plate nine-hole Jessica Hallett, as FIU tied the game at 2-2. Jaguar reliever Destin Vicknair’s only walk in three innings pitched proved costly, as Ashley Belans drew one in the leadoff position to start the seventh inning, moved to second on Kennedy’s sacrifice bunt and reached third on a passed ball to set up Grossman for the sacrifice. USA stranded seven runners on base over the final four innings, leaving 11 total stranded in the contest, including two in the bottom of the seventh. The Jaguars outhit FIU, 7-3. Messer led the way by going 3-for-3 with a run. The Mobile, Ala., native recorded her 11th multi-hit game in 18 played this year. Foster went 1-for-2 with a run and a walk. Breeden was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Vicknair fell to 5-2 with the loss after allowing one run (unearned) with a strikeout, walk and no hits allowed in three relief innings. Starter Devin Brown gave up two runs (both unearned) on three hits with two strikeouts and no walks in four innings. Corinne Jenkins improved to 2-3 with the complete-game win for FIU after striking out six to five walks and allowing two runs (both earned) on seven hits.