Feb. 17, 2011
BIRMNGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford softball team gets back to work this weekend at the Quality Inn Classic hosted by Troy University. In addition to the Trojans, Samford will also face off with Central Arkansas, Bradley and North Florida.
Last weekend, Samford opened up the season against some of the toughest Division I competition in the All-Alabama Classic at Liberty Park in Vestavia Hills. All nine of Alabama's Division I softball teams participated in the tournament.
Samford opened the season Friday night against Alabama, who was ranked No. 6 in the NFCA preseason polls and the Tide defeated the Bulldogs, 8-0. On Saturday, Samford dropped a pair of games to South Alabama, 10-3, and UAB, 7-3. The Bulldogs notched their first win on Sunday in a 9-1 victory over Alabama State, but Samford fell to 1-4 on the season after a 5-0 loss to Auburn to round out tournament play.
The Bulldogs open play at the Quality Inn Classic Friday against Central Arkansas at 1:30 p.m. The Bears enter the weekend 1-4 after grabbing their first win over Mississippi Valley State Wednesday evening. UCA started the season last weekend going winless in the Southern Miss Mizuno Classic. They dropped two games to USM (5-2 and 5-1) and also fell twice to Kennesaw State (3-2 and 4-2).
Kelvon Greer and Melanie Bryant lead all starters in batting with a .364 and a .308 average at the plate, respectively. Kasey Britt is UCA's leading slugger after posting three hits, a double and a triple last weekend.
Kelsie Armstrong (0-3) leads the Bears in the circle with 12 of UCA's 17 strikeouts. She holds a 4.61 ERA in three appearances for the Bears.
Samford will close the first day of play against Bradley at 6:30 p.m., marking the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Braves. Bradley is looking for its first win this weekend after going 0-5 last weekend at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. Four of the five teams that Bradley faced in the tournament were either ranked or received votes in the preseason national polls.
Julie Sherman led the Braves last weekend with a .364 batting average while Kate Singler and Brittany Fairbairn posted three RBI each. Singler also had a team-high five hits on the weekend, hitting a double and a home run.
On Saturday, the Bulldgs will take on North Florida at 9:30 a.m., and Troy at 3 p.m.
North Florida enters the weekend 1-5 after capturing its first win of the season in a 2-0 decision at Central Florida Wednesday. The Ospreys played in the Combat Classic in Miami, Fla., last weekend where they went 0-5. UNF was shut out, 3-0, by Florida International, DePaul and Memphis and also fell to Kentucky, 5-2, and Ohio State, 10-1.
Alyson Bailey led the Ospreys last weekend, posting a .231 batting average with three hits including two doubles. Kelly Dill followed with a .167 average and hit UNF's first home run of the season.
Troy (3-2) competed in the All-Alabama Classic last weekend along with Samford. The Trojans opened the season with a 9-1 win over Alabama State and followed that up with a 17-0 win over Alabama A&M. Troy suffered its first loss of the season in a 2-1 decision to Auburn before shutting out UAB, 2-0, to close out play on Saturday. The Trojans then rounded out the weekend with a 9-1 loss to Alabama.
The Trojans hit eight home runs on the weekend led by Nikki Hollett with four, Hayden Gann with two and Michelle Hewett and Taylor Smartt with one each. Sara Shields led her team at the plate with a .455 batting average while Hollett was Troy's best slugger with a 1.250 slugging percentage, posting seven runs, seven hits, six RBI and a double to go along with her four home runs.
Ashlyn Williams (1-1) led all Trojans pitchers on the weekend, posting a 0.50 ERA and 23 strikeouts. She pitched two complete games including one shutout and gave up just one earned run on eight hits throughout the entire weekend.
When tournament play is over, Samford and Troy will play a bonus game at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Samford fans can follow all of the Bulldogs' games in the Quality Inn Classic this weekend via live stats through links at the Samford softball schedule page at www.samfordsports.com. Live video will also be available for most games in the tournament through links at the Troy softball schedule page at www.troytrojans.com. A full recap and results from each game will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of each day's games.
