Feb. 20, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford softball team has moved its home opener up about a week to play host to Miami (Ohio) in a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 21. The Bulldogs were slated to have the weekend off and open home play next weekend in the Magic City Classic, but Samford Head Coach Beanie Ketcham wanted to keep some consistency in the Bulldogs' schedule.
"This weekend was designed to be a weekend off," Ketcham said. "But we should be in a good place this weekend at home. We've had a couple of days off this week and hopefully, this will keep us sharp going into next week. Since our bats were so hot last weekend, we wanted to keep things going."
Samford (2-2) comes off a tough midweek rough loss at Mississippi Valley State on Thursday. After playing four scoreless innings, the Bulldogs took a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning but led that lead get away from them as the Devilettes scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to win the game.
The Bulldogs have been led in the last four games by two sophomores, a junior and a redshirt freshman. Sophomore pitcher Robyn Harmon is the team's leading hitter with a batting average of .500. She has scored five runs on six hits in 12 appearances at the plate. Sophomore utility player Amy Gonzalez comes in just behind Harmon with a .467 average at the plate while junior shortstop Amanda Jordan (.364) and redshirt freshman Alex Adams (.357) round out the top four hitters. The duo has combined for eight RBI while Adams blasted two three doubles in five hits.
Senior pitcher Amanda Barrs leads the team in RBI with eight and has the only homerun for the Bulldogs so far this season. That homer came in the form of grand slam in Samford's final game last weekend at the Mardi Gras Invitational, and led the Bulldogs to a 11-2 win over South Alabama.
Leading the Bulldogs in the circle so far this season is senior pitcher Stephanie Royal (1-0). She has one win under her belt and boasts the teams lowest ERA of 3.38. Harmon (1-1), however, has seen the most action for the Bulldogs as she has recorded 17 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.
Miami has yet to play this season. The Redhawks had both the tournament they were scheduled to play in as well as the makeup games they scheduled to replace it snowed out last weekend.
The Redhawks are coming off a 33-24 season that culminated in a MAC Tournament Championship and their first NCAA Tournament victory in school history. Miami returns 13 letterwinners from that Championship team. Among that crowd are senior shortstop Sarah Billstrom, a First Team All-MAC selection last season, and sophomore Jessica Simpson who had a stellar record-setting freshman season in 2009. She was named MAC Tournament MVP after going 4-0 with a 0.50 ERA during the tournament.
Miami has been selected by the MAC coaches to win the East Division as well as repeat as MAC Tournament Champions.
The first game of the doubleheader is slated for 11 a.m. CT, at Bulldog Field. Game two will follow shortly after at approximately 1 p.m.
A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the day's play.
