MONROE, La. – The ULM softball team will play three mid-week non-conference games at the ULM Softball Complex, first meeting Grambling Tuesday, April 26, for a doubleheader that begins at 4 p.m. CT. Game two vs. the Tigers will start following the conclusion of game one. On Wednesday, April 27, ULM plays host to McNeese in the second game of the home-and-home series. First pitch on Wednesday vs. the Cowgirls is set for 6 p.m.
ULM (23-20, 9-12) heads into the final stretch of the season with 10 games remaining on the regular-season schedule, seven at home. The Warhawks are looking to get back in the winning column after a tough weekend series loss vs. the No. 2 team in the Sun Belt in South Alabama. Junior first baseman
Kennedy Johnson leads ULM with a .408 batting average in conference games and is the league leader with 13 doubles. Johnson sits just behind
Lourdes Bacon (45) with 41 hits.
In the circle for the Warhawks,
Kinsey Kackley,
Victoria Abrams and
Adrianna Chavarria have all pitched more than 40 innings apiece. Chavarria has come in in relief with 13 appearances and a team-best 2.07 ERA in Sun Belt games, good for seventh in the individual league rankings and Abrams ninth with a 2.98 ERA.
"We have had some cancellations and this is a really great opportunity for us to get more games," said ULM softball head coach
Molly Fichtner. "There's nothing like being in live games and having those in-game experiences. We're trying to get as much as we can leading up to the end of regular-season conference play and headed into the conference tournament. These mid-week games allow us to work on what we are struggling with on the weekend and we can learn something in each game."
In the first meeting between ULM and Grambling, the Warhawks won 11-4, scoring four runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. The Warhawks finished the game with an offensive outburst, scoring seven combined runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Grambling (21-17, 8-10 SWAC) has won four-straight games, including a sweep of Southern last weekend.
Grambling is the top scoring team in the SWAC with 4.79 runs per game. The Tigers are aggressive on the basepaths with 2.18 stolen bases per game, also best in their league and 13
th in the nation. Redshirt-junior India Wells leads the Tigers with a .348 batting average and 40 hits, but only six strikeouts so far in 2022. Wells and Deija Russell are tied in runs scored at 21 and Russell is second behind Wells in batting average and hits. She is one RBI behind Anaiyah Fultz in that category, 19 to 18, with Wells third with 17.
The Cowgirls (29-17, 10-2 Southland) play at LSU Tuesday before heading to Monroe for the second of two meetings vs. the Warhawks. McNeese has won three-straight games and seven of its last nine outings. The Cowgirls held off a furious Warhawks' comeback attempt for a 7-5 win in Lake Charles at the end of March. McNeese ranks either first or second in 12 stat categories and is seventh nationally in stolen bases per game at 2.37. The Cowgirls are 54th with a team ERA of 2.74.
Junior outfielder Alayis Seneca is one of the toughest hitters in the nation to strike out, ranked second with just two strikeouts in 41 games. Seneca (0.85), sophomore Jil Poullard (0.83) and junior Kendall Talley (0.82) are first, third and fourth, respectfully, in the Southland, in runs scored per game. In the circle, sophomore Shaelyn Sanders owns an ERA of 2.12, good for fourth in the Southland, and 99th in the country.
Live stats for this week's non-conference games vs. Grambling and McNeese will be available on the softball schedule page at
ULMWarhawks.com. ESPN+ will have the broadcast of Wednesday's contest vs. the Cowgirls.
