May 1, 2003
Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The 2003 season will go down as the most successful season in Samford softball history. However, despite a 12-10 conference record and tying Jacksonville State for sixth place in the league standings, Samford will not be in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament and will end its season with a Friday double header against the University of Mobile at 4 p.m.
The Bulldogs set a new single season record for wins in a season as Samford defeated UAB 1-0 on Tuesday splitting the four games with the Blazers this season. Samford is 9-6 this season against in-state opponents. Erin Landsburg tossed her sixth shutout of the year against UAB giving up four hits and striking out nine in 10 innings of work. Landsburg also had the game-winning RBI in the 10th inning as she squeezed home Abi Casillo from third base. The Bulldogs 27 wins breaks the old record of 26 wins set by the 2001 team that went 26-37.
Junior catcher Angela Bednark was named Atlantic Sun Conference player of the week for April 27. Bednark went 6-12 (.500) in four games against Georgia State and Mercer. She drove in a runs in both games against the Bears and hit safely in all four games. Bednark has now hit safely in seven straight games. She holds the season's longest hitting streak of 16-straight games earlier in the season.
Mobile is No. 2 in the nation in NAIA and is fresh off a GCAC/Independent conference tournament championship. The Rams are a perfect 9-0 in conference play and are 46-5 overall. The Rams only Division I opponent this season was their opening games at Birmingham Southern where they split a pair of one-run games. Maria Soto leads the Rams with a .442 batting average. She has 21 doubles, three, HRs and 53 RBI on the year. She is also 14-16 on the bases this season. Denisse Fuenmayor has seven of Mobile's 11 home runs on the year and is second on the team with a .362 average. In the circle, Missy Passley is 23-4 with a 0.95 ERA. She has 276 strikeouts in 190.1 innings. Kirby Baxter is 22-1 with a 1.18 ERA. Friday's games are the first ever meetings between Samford and Mobile.
Samford is 14-4 at Bulldog field this season. The Bulldogs are hitting .289 with 22 doubles and 14 home runs at home. Kelly Smith is hitting .365 with six doubles, three homers, and 18 RBI in home games. The Staff ERA is 1.42 at home and seven of the nine shutouts this season have been at Bulldog Field.
The Bulldogs will compete as members of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2004. OVC members are Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Illinois, Morehead State, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee Tech, and Tennessee State. Jacksonville State will join the conference along with Samford bring the conference to 10 members in softball.
