MONROE, La. -- ULM is looking to bounce back off the
two-game skid when they head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Arkansas
Invitational. The Warhawks ended the UNLV Easton Desert Classic with two run-rule
defeats at the hands of UCLA and Ohio. The Warhawks take on Saint Louis and
Murray State in addition to the host Razorbacks in the round robin tournament.
ULM is in third place in the Sun Belt lead in overall record
heading into this weekend. The Warhawks got great pitching from senior
Stephanie Routzon once again, who earned two more wins before being on the hook
for the loss to Ohio.
Freshman Faith Bohack is tied for third in the Sun Belt with
10 hits while sophomore Mackenzie Miller's two triples and five steals still
tie for the league lead. Meanwhile, Routzon and sophomore Haylie Wilson are
fourth and fifth in innings pitched, respectively. Routzon's 18 strikeouts rank
8th in the SBC.
LAST
TIME OUT: Senior
Haley McCall hit .333 and slugged .833 in the Warhawks five games out west and
recorded four hits, including a double, triple, and a home run. Freshman Kayla
Prater also slapped four hits and drove in three while senior Janel Salanoa
homered and doubled en route to getting a team-high four RBIs. The Warhawks
went 2-3 at the UNLV Easton Desert Classic with wins over Brigham Young and
Seattle.
SCOUTING
THE OPPONENTS
-
Arkansas
(Feb. 22, 3:00 p.m.) already has 12 games under its belt this season, the most
of any ULM opponent to date. The Razorbacks are paced by freshman phenom Stephanie Canfield who is hitting .432
with 7 RBIs. She is third in the SEC with 19 hits. Clarissa
Navarro leads the team with 10 RBIs and is tied for second in the SEC with
five doubles. Young has a team-low ERA at 1.62 with a 2-0 record in five
appearances in the circle. Chelsea Cohen
has a 3-1 record in four starts. Kimmy Beasley
paces the Razorbacks with 20 strikeouts. This is the first meeting between ULM
and Arkansas on the softball field since 2011.
The
Hogs edged the Warhawks 1-0 in that contest.
-
Saint
Louis (Feb. 23, 10:00 a.m.) is 2-2 to start
out the 2013 campaign. Jessica Buschjost
leads all Billiken returners with a .328 batting average from last season. She
was 34-of-37 on stolen base attempts. She is off to a hot start this year, too,
with a .357 batting average and a team-high five hits. She is 5-for-5 stealing bags.
Jessica Van Nostrand has six of the
Billikens' 12 RBIs thus far. Laney Kneib
and Brianna Lore have both appeared
in the circle four times and are both 1-1. Lore has the edge with six
strikeouts, but has surrendered 16 hits. Kneib has held opponents to a .091
batting average so far this season. All three SLU pitchers are new to the
program. The
Billikens edged the Warhawks 2-0 in their last meeting back in 2009.
-
Murray
State (Feb. 23, 3:00 p.m.) enters the
weekend with a 1-3 record. Casey Castile
leads the Racers with a .400 batting average and two steals. Pitcher Shelby
Kosmecki has appeared in three games and has a 1-2 record with a 3.86 ERA.
She has struck out 18 so far this season. Last season, Castile led all
returners with a .337 batting average and led the team with 46 RBIs and 12 home
runs. Kosmecki, meanwhile, was 14-11 with 19 complete games and two shutouts.
She struck out 131 in 2012, and allowed just 64 walks in 115.2 innings pitched.
The
schools last met in 2010 in Monroe, La. ULM defeated the Racers 13-5.
WARHAWKS
ONLINE: While ULM is on the road, you can
follow live stats at ULMWarhawks.com, get updates via Facebook (Warhawks) and
through Twitter (@ULMWarhawks).
WARHAWKS
ON THE ROAD: ULM will travel a grand total of 9,642
miles this season. The majority of those miles come between Feb. 15 and Mar. 14
with ULM's next 16 contests on the road. ULM's Friday matchup with Arkansas is
the first true road game of the season for the Warhawks.
BASE
THIEVES: The Warhawks finished 2012 campaign
with 105 stolen bases, the second highest total in the Sun Belt and also a
school record. Base runners were caught just 20 times during the season.
Meanwhile, ULM allowed just 44 steals on 56 attempts-the third lowest in the
league. So far in 2013, ULM is 14-of-17 in stolen bases. Sophomore Mackenzie Miller leads the team-and the
conference-with five.
PROGRAM
MILESTONE: ULM needs 11 victories in 2013 to win
its 800th game as a program.
RECORD
DOESN'T TELL STORY: ULM is 16-65 all-time against the
current SEC, but that factors in a 2-23 record against one its newest members:
Texas A&M. ULM is 12-25 against the SEC's founding institutions.
SALANOA'S
SUCCESS: Senior Janel Salanoa launched her 17th
career home run last weekend to move into sole possession of seventh place on
ULM's all-time home runs list. Her 25th career double, also recorded in Las
Vegas, puts her in a tie for ninth all time. She needs four RBIs to become the
fifth player in program history to reach the 100 RBI milestone. She entered
2013 ranked ninth on ULM's career batting avg. list.
AT
THE HELM: Rosemary
Holloway-Hill begins her 29th season as head coach.
She is 10 wins away from winning her 800th game as a head coach at any level.
She is joined in the dugout by Associate Head Coach Sara Vogt. This is Vogt's second season in the role and fifth
overall at ULM.
FAMILIAR
FACE: Back in January, ULM head coach Rosemary Holloway-Hill announced the
addition of Lindsay Rittenhouse-Becton
to the staff as the Warhawks' pitching coach. Rittenhouse-Becton graduated from
ULM in 2008 as the school's all-time saves leader.
VETS
& ROOKIES: The 2013 Warhawks feature 10 returning
players and nine newcomers, including eight freshmen. Four of the eight
freshmen were high school teammates at Hahnville (La.) High School, where
together they were state champions in 2011 and runners-up in 2010 and 2012.
Three other Warhawks have played on state championship squads.
MAKING
THE GRADE: ULM Softball posted a 3.478 GPA in the
Fall 2012 semester. It was the highest team GPA among all ULM sports teams. The
Warhawks 2011-12 team GPA ranked 41st in the Division I, according to the NFCA.
That was one spot higher than Stanford and just below 2013 opponent St. Louis.
PRESEASON
PICKS: The Warhawks were picked to finish
eighth in the Sun Belt by the conference head coaches. UL-Lafayette was
unanimously picked to repeat as Sun Belt champions.
PRESEASON
AWARDS: Senior 1B Janel Salanoa was named to
the CollegeSportsMadness.com All-Sun Belt second team earlier this year.
QUOTABLE:
"I feel like this team belongs, and you'll see new and
exciting things happen from them." - Rosemary Holloway-Hill on the 2013
Warhawks.
