MONROE, La. -- ULM hopes to bounce back from a three-game sweep against FIU when it wraps up a stretch of six straight home games when it hosts Memphis (18-26, 6-9 C-USA) for the first time ever on Wednesday.
It is a rematch of last year's contest in Memphis, which the Tigers won 5-3. The Warhawks (16-20, 3-8 Sun Belt) take to the road for a three-game weekend series with Western Kentucky (20-13, 9-3 Sun Belt)
Janel Salanoa ranks ninth in the Sun Belt and leads the team with a .337 batting average. She is tied for the league lead with 17 stolen bases. Teammate Mackenzie Miller is not far behind in either category. Miller is hitting .329 on the year and has swiped 14 bases (third in the Sun Belt). Salanoa, Kayla Prater and Alexis Cacioppo share the team-high of 15 RBI.
Salanoa ranks as the nation's 20th-toughest to strikeout. She has fanned only three times in 95 at-bats.
In the circle, Haylie Wilson ranks among the Sun Belt's top 10 in innings pitched while Stephanie Routzon leads the squad with nine wins.
LAST TIME OUT: ULM was swept in conference play for the second time this season, this time falling to FIU in Monroe. It was the first time ULM suffered a home sweep since May 7-8, 2011 against then-No. 24 UL-Lafayette.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
-
Memphis (April 10, 4 p.m.) comes into Monroe on a four-game winning streak. The Tigers easily handled Southern Miss over the weekend, out-scoring the Eagles 35-10 in their series. Morgan Mosby leads the squad with a .319 batting average and 17 RBI. Mosby has a team-high two home runs. Laura Curtis paces the Tigers with 13 doubles. Ellen Roberts and Jordan Richwood split time pitching, though Roberts sees the majority of the innings. Roberts has a 9-17 record with a 3.42 ERA in 35 appearences (25 starts). She has fanned 138 this season while walking only 64. Richwood, meanwhile, is 8-8 with a 3.79 ERA in 26 appearances (15 starts). Richwood has 129 Ks in 99.2 innings pitched.
-
Western Kentucky (April 13, 1 and 3 p.m.; April 14, 12 p.m.) is 10-3 in Bowling Green this season and 9-3 overall in conference play. The Lady Toppers are paced by Preslie Cruce's .378 batting average while Amanda Thomas carries the team with eight homers and 30 RBI. Cruce boasts a .714 slugging percentage. Emily Rousseau leads the WKU staff with an 11-5 record and a blistering 2.12 ERA. She has fanned 133 this season and held opponenets to a .204 batting average in 115.2 innings of work. Mallorie Sulaski and Janna Scheff each see limited time in the circle and have started a combined 16 games. The Toppers were recently swept at then-No. 8 Texas in a non-conference weekend series.
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 Memphis contest is available on ULMWarhawks.com.
WARHAWKS AT HOME AND AWAY: ULM ends a six-game home stand Wednesday when it hosts Memphis. FIU. The Warhawks are 7-4 at the ULM Softball Complex this season. They then hit the road for four straight games beginning Saturday at Western Kentucky. The road trip ends at Ole Miss next Wednesday.
BASE THIEVES: In 2013, ULM is 68-of-86 in stolen bases. The mark is best in the conference. The Warhawks' 1.85 stolen bases per game average ranks 21st 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 12-6 when scoring three or more runs this season.
SALANOA'S SUCCESS: Senior Janel Salanoa launched her third home run of the year and the 19th of her career against Lamar. She 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.
