Softball Faces #16 UT Dallas

4/20/2017 2:53:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information - Brad Welborn

The Louisiana College Lady Wildcat softball team will close out their 2017 regular season this weekend with a three game series against the University of Texas at Dallas. Despite the current eight game losing streak, the Wildcats are already secured a spot in the American Southwest Conference tournament that begins next Thursday at the University of Texas at Tyler. Regardless of the outcome of the series against the Comets, the Wildcats will face the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in the first game of the tournament. If LC sweeps UTD this weekend they will earn the #4 seed in the tournament, anything less and they will enter as the #5 seed.

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UT Dallas | 29-8 (21-6) 3rd ASC

2515

The Comets enter the final series of the season on a nine game winning streak, which includes three straight ASC sweeps over Ozarks, Concordia, and Howard Payne. Their six conference losses this year came in a three game sweep at the hands of UT Tyler, and losses to ETBU, Sul Ross State, and UMHB.

The Comets top two hitters, Melissa Livermore and Stefanie Polderman, are both batting over .450 on the season with over 30 steals each this year. Livermore leads UTD with 59 hits with only four of them extra base hits. Livermore and Polderman are a combined 70-of-75 in steal attempts this season. Their top RBI getter is Brittany Perkins, who leads with 37 on the year. As a team they are batting .341 this year and averaging 6.8 runs on 9.4 hits per game.

In the circle, Lauren McLeod leads the team with 103.1 innings pitched this season. She has a 2.17 ERA and a 15-1 overall record. She has 76 strikeouts this year and has allowed 42 walks. Allie Stephens has the second most innings pitched at 82.1 and a 2.64 ERA with a 10-4 record.

Louisiana College | 24-12 (18-9) 5th ASC

5201

After a 19-game winning streak earlier in the season, the Wildcats have lost their last eight games in a row and 10 of their last 11 overall. The eight game streak includes five losses by one-run each, including a walk-off loss to ETBU and an extra inning loss the UT Tyler last weekend. The Wildcats will enter the 2017 conference tournament as either the four or five seed, depending on the outcome of the LC series against UTD.

The Wildcats are averaging 2.0 runs per game over their last three series and are 1-8 overall. On the season, they are scoring 4.2 runs per game on 7.6 hits per game. Mattie Stine leads the team with a .416 average and leads LC with 47 hits, 13 doubles, and 33 RBI. Her 13 doubles is tied for fourth most in a single season, needing three more to tie the school record. Shelby Bergeron continues to be a dynamic lead off batter for the Wildcats, with a .364 batting average with 34 runs scored, 10 walks, and is 29-of-32 in stolen base attempts this season.

The Wildcats pitching staff has carried them through the majority of the season, especially the performance of ace Savannah Settle. The junior leads the team with a 1.08 earned run average in 129.1 innings pitched. She has thrown 16 complete games this season and has struck out 134 batters and only allowed 20 walks this year. Taylor Leger and Darian Thacker have each started nine games this season for LC and thrown over 40 innings. Leger has a 2.10 ERA with 23 strikeouts and Thackers has a 2.46 ERA with 19 strikeouts.

The Wildcats will close the regular season this weekend against UT Dallas with a three game series that begins with a doubleheader on Friday starting at 4 p.m. and finishes with a single game Saturday at 1 p.m. LC will then take on UMHB in the conference tournament in the #4/#5 game that begins at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 27. Stay connected to Louisiana College softball by following @LC_sftball or @LC_Wildcats on Twitter or liking LC Athletics on Facebook.

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