Our Samford Bulldogs kept the momentum rolling Saturday with two more wins over the Western Kentucky University Lady Toppers.
 
With the doubleheader sweep, more program records fell as Callie Brister broke the school record for career RBIs previously held by Amanda Barrs while Megan Dowdy set new program record for single-season doubles and tied the career-record in the category.
 
Not to be outdone, senior Mollie Hanson turned in her best start of the season in game one at WKU with a season-high 11 strikeouts in the nine-inning complete game victory.
 
All three seniors played some of their best softball of the season but their outings Saturday represents the bigger picture of the entire team playing their best softball coming down the stretch.
 
The biggest characteristic of the recent hot streak has been finishing strong. The Bulldogs closed out each win this weekend with a seven-run rally in the ninth inning of game one while scoring five runs in their last at-bat in game two.
 
In fact, Samford has pulled out recent victories over Western Carolina, Troy, Furman and Chattanooga with decisive run-scoring rallies in their last at-bat.
 
One characteristic that you can see in late game situations is mental toughness. It's a characteristic that has come to define the 2016 Samford Bulldogs. You can point to the late game success this month, playing competitively against a tough non-conference schedule in February and March, but it goes beyond the games played on the schedule.
 
When writing today's "In the Circle", I had a chance to revisit the special pre-season "Over a Cliff" series of YouTube videos and it became clear why we're seeing the team come up with win after win. They put the effort in during the off-season to prepare themselves physically and mentally for a big season. Their hard work in the off-season has already been rewarded with the program's third straight 30-win season with plenty of goals still on the table.
 
Before Samford resumes SoCon play, they'll finish the non-conference schedule today with a doubleheader against Alabama A&M from the SWAC.
 
Alabama A&M comes in with a 9-30 overall record but have a 7-8 record in SWAC play including a series win at Jackson State this weekend. Alabama A&M does not have a senior and has only four juniors on the roster. One of the four juniors, Tiana Sanders leads Alabama A&M with a .358 average and is second in the SWAC with nine home runs.
 
I'll have the call on the SoCon Digital Network with airtime at 3:55 PM.