Kerrville, Texas - The No. 5 seed Centenary softball team will face the No. 4 seed Southwestern Pirates on Friday in the first round of the 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championship at 11 a.m. at Mountaineer Softball Field.
Schreiner University will serve as the host for the three-day, six team, double-elimination event which culminates with the championship game on Sunday afternoon.
Live stats and live video will be available for Friday's game and all tournament games at the links below:
Stats: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/sball/2020-21/boxscores/20210430_23aw.xml
Video: https://collegetvticket.com/portal/centenary
The Ladies (15-19, 8-11 SCAC) return to Kerrville for the second time within a week after finishing their regular season last weekend against the Mountaineers. Centenary suffered a series sweep after falling in a doubleheader on Saturday by scores of 11-3 in five innings and 9-8 in eight innings and then 4-0 in Sunday's regular-season finale.
Southwestern (14-18, 11-10 SCAC) swept Austin College on the road last weekend. The Ladies took two of three games from the Pirates at home in early April, recording a pair of shutouts in games one and three by scores of 4-0 and 2-0.
Centenary head coach Mark Suire has led the Ladies to a berth in the conference championship in each of his five seasons (20-16-present) that the event has been held. The 2020 championship was not held due to COVID-19. Centenary has finished third three times in that span and tied for fifth once.
The Ladies enter the championship with one of the conference's strongest pitching staffs as they rank fifth in the league with a 3.49 team ERA and are first in strikeouts (147) and saves (5).
Centenary proved to be a very well-rounded team throughout the season as the Maroon and White rank second in the conference in stolen bases (77), third in walks (70), and fourth in home runs (12).
Freshman pitcher Hailee Leger (Belle Chasse, La.) finished the regular season fourth in the league in ERA (2.13), second in strikeouts (86), and first in saves (4). Leger went 7-10 this season with eight complete games and only walked 16 batters in a team-high 108.1 innings pitched.
Junior Ashley Hunter (Benton, La.) went 5-4 in the circle with a 3.85 ERA, two complete games and a save. Freshman Cambry Bates (Readhimer, La.) went 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA in 11 appearances. The versatile Bates was also one of the Ladies' top hitters all season and finished second on the team with a .317 average and third with 26 hits. She tied for the team lead in home runs with three and added five doubles, seven runs scored, and nine RBI.
Ladies' freshman right fielder Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) has been the offensive leader all season and one of the top rookies in the conference as well. She is hitting team-best .379 which ranks 10th in the conference and she also ranks seventh in on-base percentage (.448) and eighth in hits (39). She is also tied for eighth in walks (11), and is tied for second in the conference in stolen bases with 21. Cox scored 19 runs, slugged .466, had three doubles, three triples, and only struck out 13 times in 103 at-bats this season.
Sophomore 2B/OF Kaylea Patridge (Las Vegas, Nev.) had a solid season as well at the plate and one the bases. She batted .289 with 28 hits, second on the team, and a team-leading 14 RBI. Patridge leads the conference in sacrifice bunts (7) and ranked fourth in stolen bases with 19. She scored 16 runs, and had five extra-base hits. Fellow sophomore 3B Britlyn Garrett (Stonewall, La.) finished fourth on the team with 21 hits and had a team-high seven extra- base hits as she hit two homers and added three doubles and two triples.
Junior infielder Jaymee Wilkinson (Brazoria, Texas) had a team-leading eight doubles, which was tied for ninth in the league and six sacrifice bunts, which ranked second. Her solid season included 19 hits, seven runs scored, eight RBI, and four stolen bases. Senior catcher Erin Lewis (Leesville, La.) tied Bates for the team lead in home runs with three and had 10 runs, 19 hits, three doubles, and 12 RBI.
Texas Lutheran is the overall top seed, Schreiner is the No. 2 seed and, along with TLU, will receive a first-round bye into Friday's winner's bracket contest. Third-seeded Trinity takes on No. 6 seed Dallas in the 1:30 p.m. game on Friday that follows the Centenary-Southwestern game.
For complete coverage of this year's 2021 SCAC Softball Tournament, click to the official website and don't forget to follow the SCAC on Facebook and Twitter and become a fan of the league on Instagram.
A link to the Ladies' complete schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/sball/2020-21/schedule
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