MONROE, La. -- ULM (17-23, 3-11 Sun Belt) visits Ole Miss (21-26) for the first time in program history to wrap up a four-game road trip on Wednesday before returning back to Monroe for a three-game set against No. 20 South Alabama (37-3, 13-3 Sun Belt). The Lady Jags are the third ranked team the Warhawks play this season, and the first ranked opponent to visit Monroe since then-No. 24 UL-Lafayette visited in 2011.
ULM has struggled mightily in Sun Belt play this season, although there is a bright spot in the Warhawk lineup. Sophomore third baseman Alexis Cacioppo is crushing conference pitching, hitting at a .455 clip with a pair of home runs and eight RBI. She is slugging at .697 percent against SBC foes. Overall, she leads the squad with a .311 batting average, .538 slugging percentage, six homers and 18 RBI. She is tied for the team high with 15 walks.
Mackenzie Miller comes in with a .302 average and is the only other Warhawk hitting over the .300 mark. She is tied for the team lead with seven doubles. Janel Salanoa leads the Warhawks with 17 stolen bases.
LAST TIME OUT: ULM scraped out a 1-0 win in 11 innings on April 10 to conclude a long six-game homestand at the .500 mark. The celebration was short lived, however. Western Kentucky's offense swept the Warhawks over the weekend in Bowling Green.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
- Ole Miss (Wednesday, April 17, 4 p.m.) has struggled lately, but the Rebels have gotten solid performances at the plate from Allison Brown and Mari Osias. Brown has started all 47 games and is hitting at a .341 clip with a team-high 35 RBI. Osias leads the team with a .379 average, but has only appeared in 32 contests. Londen Ladner leads the squad with six homers. Speedster Brittany Broome is 30-33 stealing bases, accounting for nearly half of Ole Miss' swipes this year. In the circle, Carly Hummel has seen the majority of the work. She is 10-14 with a 4.50 ERA in 124.1 innings. She has fanned an even 100 batters and held opponents to a .260 average. Shelby Jo Fenter and Erinn Jayjohn have tossed in 19 games each.
- No. 20 South Alabama (April 20, 4/6 p.m.; April 21, 1 p.m.) has all but three of its usual starters hitting above the .300 mark. The offense is led by Julie Moss' .390 batting average. Brittany Fowler has eight of the Lady Jags' 46 home runs this season. Haley Fagan has a team-best 38 RBI. The Lady Jags are in second in the Sun Belt in nearly offensive category and rank in the top two in every pitching stat. They are a blistering 11-1 on the road. In the circle, Hannah Campbell is nearly lights out with a 0.94 ERA in 156.2 innings. Farish Beard is 17-0 in 22 appearances (18 starts). Beard has 147 strikeouts on the year while Campbell has fanned 124. Jessica Dobson and Kaleigh Floore saw time in the circle this season, but have only appeared in nine total games. As a team, South Alabama is holding opponents to a .185 batting average.
WARHAWKS ONLINE: Follow live stats at ULMWarhawks.com, get updates via Facebook (ULM Warhawks) and through Twitter (@ULMWarhawks). A free live video stream of the South Alabama series is available on ULMWarhawks.com.
WARHAWKS AT HOME AND AWAY: ULM ends a four-game road trip Wednesday at Ole Miss then come home for a weekend set against South Alabama. The Warhawks are 7-4 at the ULM Softball Complex this season.
BASE THIEVES: In 2013, ULM is 68-of-89 in stolen bases. The mark is best in the conference. The Warhawks' 1.70 stolen bases per game average ranks 32nd nationally. ULM finished the 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 last season. Meanwhile, ULM allowed just 44 steals on 56 attempts-the third lowest in the league.
THREE'S THE MAGIC NUMBER: ULM is 12-8 when scoring three or more runs this season.
SALANOA'S SUCCESS: Senior Janel Salanoa continues to be one of the toughest to strike out in the country. She ranks 21st in the category this season. In her career, she has 19 home runs and is now one long ball away from tying Megan Miller for sixth all-time in program history.
PROGRAM MILESTONES: ULM won its 800th game as a program and its 50th Sun Belt contest by sweeping Middle Tennessee last Friday.
AT THE HELM: Rosemary Holloway-Hill is in her 29th season as head coach. She won her 800th game as a head coach at any level in game one of the Middle Tennessee twin bill. She is joined in the dugout by Associate Head Coach Sara Vogt. This is Vogt's third 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.
