An ongoing series of a bi-weekly blog from the voice of Samford softball play-by-play announcer James Hardy.

The Samford Bulldogs concluded their final weekend before the start of SoCon play with a successful trip to the Big Apple.
 
Samford took three of four games in the St. John's Invitational with the lone loss coming 5-4 in eight innings to defending Big East Tournament champion St. John's University.
 
As expected, the tournament field braved cold conditions throughout the weekend but for Samford, it didn't stop the bats from getting hot. Samford recorded 44 hits in the St. John's Invitational including 12 hits in three of the four games.
 
The most promising aspect to the weekend was that it allowed Mandy Burford to play every player on the roster and give a number of reserves valuable game experience. In Sunday's pair of games against Howard and Fairleigh Dickinson, Madison Couch and Karsin Spinks both received starting roles. Couch recorded one hit in each game while Spinks drove in a big insurance run against Howard.
 
The most pleasant surprise individually came from true freshman Emily Small. Small came in relief of starter Annalyn Yantis against Howard on Sunday. Small walked her first four batters she faced but steadied the ship in getting her first win as a Samford Bulldog.
 
Another promising breakthrough for Samford was their two-out hitting. The Bulldogs struggled to drive in runs with two outs to begin the season, but in New York it was one of the key reasons for a successful tournament.  Samford scored 21 of their 33 runs with two outs including seven runs with two-outs against Manhattan and Howard.
 
This weekend is a reminder that the cold weather of the north is a big reason why southern teams rarely travel north for regular season games and why teams up north come south for games in February and March. On the other hand, a weekend like the Bulldogs had not only builds confidence but a sense of mental toughness that you can face any sort of adversity and thrive.
 
While the trip to New York provided plenty of fun on and off the field, Samford gets back to business as Kennesaw State comes to campus today just before the start of conference play. The Owls come in with momentum after winning their first A-Sun series of the season at Jacksonville over the weekend.
 
Kennesaw State is coached by former Tennessee Tech coach Tory Acheson. Acheson is in his second season as the Owls head coach after being promoted from interim to permanent coach in April 2015.
 
Kennesaw State is similar offensively to what Samford saw from Mississippi State in February. The Owls have just 13 home runs as a team but lead the A-Sun with 81 stolen bases. Four Owls players have more than 10 steals with Kara Chambers swiping a team high 18 bases.
 
Kennesaw State does have one long ball hitter in junior catcher Courtney Sutter. Sutter has six round trippers including a critical grand slam in Sunday's win over Jacksonville.
 
Today's game is Samford's last home game of the month. I'll have the call on the SoCon Digital Network with first pitch at 5 PM and airtime at 4:55 PM.