SOUTHLAND SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
(includes live video, live stats, ticket info, bracket, campus map, etc.)
SAN ANTONIO — Making their first-ever appearance in the Southland Conference softball tournament, Central Arkansas draws a team playing in its last as they take on the UTSA Roadrunners in the tournament's opening game Thursday morning. The game has been moved to a 10 a.m. start, and all subsequent games were moved up an hour, with the threat of rain looming in the area.
The Bears (36-20, 12-8 Southland) finished in a three-way tie in the league standings with McNeese State and the Roadrunners (23-26, 12-8) but fell to the No. 5 seed in the tiebreaker. Host school UTSA, which announced last week its upcoming membership to Conference USA, drew the No. 4 seed.
The Roadrunners swept the Bears in their regular season series, winning 2-1 and 3-0 in San Antonio in an April 7 doubleheader.
UCA will look slightly different than it did in that earlier meeting, as the Bears were missing leading hitter and career home run record-holder Kasey Britt, and first-team all-conference selection Melissa Bryant had just returned earlier in the week following a two-week hiatus following a torn ACL.
The Bears are making their first postseason appearance since the 2003 Gulf South Conference Tournament in NCAA Division II, and come in to the tournament having won seven of their last eight Southland games – dropping just one game at McNeese State in the regular season's final weekend since being swept at UTSA.
The Roadrunners were 6-4 over their final 10 Southland games after their sweep of the Bears, most recently sweeping Stephen F. Austin and splitting with Nicholls in the final two series of the season.
UTSA had five players selected all-conference, including shortstop Molly Fichtner and catcher Megan Low (also the freshman of the year) on the first team.
UTSA's top pitcher is sophomore Haylee Staton, a third-team all-conference pick who was 14-7 with a 2.57 ERA and 142 strikeouts for the season. UCA counters with first-team all-conference performer Kelsie Armstrong, who was 22-13 with a 1.68 ERA and 246 strikeouts.
In conference play, the two teams were virtually even offensively. UTSA was third in the league with a .265 batting average, while UCA was just behind in fourth at .263. The Roadrunners scored 69 runs to UCA's 65, hit 11 homers to UCA's 10, and had slightly better slugging (.382 to .367) and on-base (.329 to .325) percentages.
