FULL GAME NOTES (PDF)

SOFTBALL TO OPEN SOCON PLAY AT UNCG
Samford opens conference play this weekend with a three-game series in Greensboro, N.C., against the conference-leading UNCG Spartans (15-2).  The teams will play a double-header on Saturday, March 9 at 1 p.m. ET and will conclude with a single game on Sunday, March 10 at 1 p.m. ET.

OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT
UNCG (15-2) - The Spartans are off to a hot start in 2013, only losing two games and capping its current five-game win streak with a 2-1 victory over Virginia last Sunday.  In only her first season as head coach, Janelle Breneman's freshmen have been a catalyst to turn around a program that finished 22-34 (10-14 SoCon) last season.  Freshman catcher Lindsay Thomas was named the SoCon Player of the Week, already the second time this season, after hitting four home runs with seven RBI last weekend.  This season, she owns a .389 average along with a team-leading seven homers and 17 RBI.  Fellow freshman Danielle Vega leads the team with 22 hits and six doubles, batting .373.  In the circle, junior Reanne Hanks leads the team with  a 7-1 record and a 1.35 ERA over 62.1 innings of work, throwing 64 strikeouts.  Hanks is having a bounce-back year of her own after sitting out in 2012 due to a medical hardship.

ALL-TIME VERSUS UNCG
Samford and UNCG have faced off 14 times, with the Spartans holding the 10-4 edge in the all-time series.  Samford's only series win against UNCG came in 2010, where they took two out of three games in the final weekend of the season.  The last two seasons, the two teams have also met in the SoCon Tournament with the Spartans winning both contests, including a close one-run contest last season.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
If the old mantra “defense wins championships” holds true, Samford is in good shape heading into conference play.  The Bulldogs currently lead the SoCon in fielding percentage at .969, committing only 13 errors, the fewest in the conference.  In fact, only four of the SoCon's nine teams have committed less than 20 errors this season.

BRISTER BOMBING VS. NICHOLLS
Callie Brister's 4-4 performance in the 9-1 win over Nicholls last Saturday is already the second four-hit performance for an individual Bulldog this season.  Earlier this year, Caroline Seay went 4-5 in the 12-4 win over George Washington on Feb. 16.

With it, Samford has already matched the  number of four-game performances from all of last year.  The two four-hit performances last year were the highest single-season total since 2008.

Brister's four-hit performance stands out in another way as well, as its the only one in that stretch that included a home run.

MARVELOUS MOLLIE
Mollie Hanson remains the anchor of Samford's pitching rotation and is contending with some of the top pitchers in the conference.  She leads the SoCon in innings pitched (69.0) and starts (11), ranks second in strikeouts (86) and is sixth in ERA (2.03) and opposing batting average (.218).

By a slim margin, she also has the second-best swinging strikeout percentage, catching 67 of her 86 strikeout victims swinging (77.9 percent).  Right behind her is Western Carolina's Jordan Garrett with 90 strikeouts, 70 of which are swinging (77.7 percent).  The conference leader is UNCG's Reanne Hanks, with 51 of her 64 strikeouts (79.7 percent) swinging.

NICE START FOR BICE
Freshman Caitlin Bice has made the most of her first four starts of the season, as they all helped carry her current hitting streak to five games.  The streak started with a pinch-hit against Wichita State on Feb. 24, the first hit of her Samford career.

The streak was in jeopardy in the Feb. 27 contest at Alabama, but Bice came through in the sixth inning by breaking up Leslie Jury's no-hitter with an infield single.  In the last two games, her two hits were both doubles including the game-ending RBI in the run-rule victory over Nicholls.

WEEKEND WEATHER OUTLOOK
Greensboro, N.C.
Saturday, March 9 - High 61, Low 37.  Sunny.
Sunday, March 10 - High 64, Low 45.  Partly Cloudy.

UP NEXT
Samford heads to Montgomery, Ala., for a midweek matchup against Alabama State on Tuesday, March 12 (6 p.m.) before heading to Boone, N.C., for a three-game series against Appalachian State, starting Saturday, March 16.