TROY, Ala. -- ULM opens the Sun Belt Championship with a rematch a very tough Western Kentucky team Wednesday. The Lady Toppers clinched the top spot with a sweep of Middle Tennessee last Friday while the Warhawks sealed up the eighth spot. WKU swept the Warhawks in the teams' three-game set in Bowling Green a month ago in convincing fashion.
It is a double elimination tournament. Win or lose, the Warhawks will face either Florida Atlantic or North Texas on Thursday. Both the Owls and Mean Green eclipsed ULM in sweeps at their yards this season.
While the Warhawks have struggled at the plate in SBC play, sophomore Alexis Cacioppo has been the cog of the offense. She hit .383 against Sun Belt opponents with two doubles, a triple and a pair of homers. Her .547 on-base percentage in league games is one of the best marks in the conference. Cacioppo leads the team in overall batting average, hitting at a.302 clip and slugging .556. She has a team-high 22 RBI.
Janel Salanoa is hot on Cacioppo's tail as she is hitting .289 with 20 RBI. Salanoa leads the team with 39 hits and is 21-of-25 stealing bases this year. She has a team-high 10 multi-hit games.
Last time the Sun Belt Conference tournament was at Troy, ULM took the tournament runner-up honors as the eighth seed.
LAST TIME OUT: ULM battled its rivals from the south--UL-Lafayette in the season's final conference battle. Unfortunately, the Ragin' Cajuns used big innings in all three contests to surpass the Warhawks. Summer Melancon hit her first career homer in the weekend's middle contest.
WARHAWKS ONLINE: Follow live stats at ULMWarhawks.com and SunBeltSports.org, get updates via Facebook (ULM Warhawks) and through Twitter (@ULMWarhawks). A free live video stream is available on SunBeltSports.org. The Sun Belt Championship game will be aired on CSS/CST on Saturday.
BASE THIEVES: In 2013, ULM is 81-of-106 in stolen bases. The mark is best in the conference. 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 14-10 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 Friday, Mar. 29.
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.
