Seguin, Texas - The Centenary softball team is back on the road this weekend in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play as the Ladies will face a tough test against the nationally-ranked Texas Lutheran Bulldogs beginning with a doubleheader on Friday set for 4 and 6 p.m. at Ed Kruse Stadium – Morck Softball Field.
Live stats and live video are available for all three games of the series at the links below:
Stats: https://www.tlubulldogs.com/sports/sball/2023-24/boxscores/20240412_peqf.xml
Video: https://www.youtube.com/@tluathletics/streams
Game three of the series between the Ladies (13-16, 8-4 SCAC) and the No. 4 Bulldogs (20-2, 11-1 SCAC) is scheduled for Saturday at Noon. TLU is ranked fourth in the country in this week's NFCA Division III Top 25 Softball Coaches' Poll. The Bulldogs are riding a 12-game winning streak, are 7-0 at home this season, and their lone conference loss was a 9-8 setback last month to Southwestern University on the road.
The Ladies lost two of three games last weekend to Southwestern in Georgetown, Texas. Centenary fell 8-5 in the series opener and then split a DH, winning game one by a score of 9-7 and falling 5-1 in game two. Centenary, despite losing two of three games last weekend, has won five of its last seven games overall.
The Ladies' season-high four-game winning streak was snapped last Friday but they are off to their best start in conference play since beginning the 2019 campaign 8-0. Centenary is currently in fourth place in the conference standings, trailing St. Thomas by one game and a game ahead of Southwestern.
The Bulldogs are one game ahead of Trinity University (10-2) in the conference standings. Austin College, Schreiner, and Dallas all have losing conference records and are five or more games behind Southwestern for fifth place. The top six teams in the standings at the conclusion of the regular season will qualify for the 2024 SCAC Softball Tournament, a double-elimination event, that will be held May 3-5 in Seguin and hosted by TLU.
The Ladies are hitting .311 as a team with a .372 on-base percentage and are slugging .379. They average 4.8 runs per game and have a team ERA of 3.73. Centenary has collected 247 hits, 43 for extra bases, with 301 total bases which includes 72 walks and 14 HBP. The Ladies have 15 sacrifice flies and have stolen 57 bases. Centenary is ranked in the top five in the conference in batting average, hits, runs scored, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.
The Ladies have collected 10+ hits in game 14 times this season and done so in five of their last 10 games. Centenary's 247 hits rank 17th in the country in division III and the Ladies are tied for 48th in stolen bases and tied for 50th in runs scored.
Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) is in the middle of a sensational senior season as she is hitting a team-best .462 (third in conference and top 100 nationally) with a .543 on-base percentage and is slugging .602. She has stolen 39 bases which is second nationally in all of division III and has only been caught three times. She leads the conference and is seventh in the country in hits and is the league leader in runs scored and is fifth in the nation. Cox, named the SCAC Hitter of the Week earlier this month, has 15 multi-hit games this season including a trio of three-hit performances and has stolen two or more bases in a game 12 times this season.
Cox earned the conference's weekly offensive honor on April 1 after finishing 6-13 (.462) at the plate with a .500 OBP and slugged .846 in four games. She had six RBI, scored five runs, stole four bases, and walked twice. She ripped an inside-the-park home run, the first HR of her career, against Schreiner on March 30 and had a triple against Dallas on March 26. Cox had three multi-hit games as she helped lead the Ladies to a win against Dallas on March 26 in a makeup game and a weekend sweep over Schreiner.
Junior P Anna Scarbrock (Alexandria, La.) is third in the SCAC in ERA (2.54) and seventh in innings pitched (63.1). She is 6-5 in a team-leading 13 appearances and 11 starts with 22 strikeouts and only six walks. Scarbrock was named the SCAC Softball Pitcher of the Week on March 18 after she was masterful in the circle in the Ladies' 7-0 win over Dallas on March 16. She tossed a complete-game shutout and needed only 50 pitches to do so. She allowed just two hits with no walks and one strikeout. She faced 24 batters, hitting one, and threw 40 of her 50 pitches for strikes. Scarbrock earned the honor for the second time in her career and first time since April 20, 2022.
Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) is fourth in the SCAC with an ERA of 3.03. She is 2-1 this season with a save and a complete game and is tied for eighth in the league in strikeouts with 30 in 39.1 IP. She has made 12 appearances and two starts.
Sophomore C Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) is the Ladies' leader in RBI with 22 which is tied for fifth in the conference. She is third on the team in hits with 29 and is hitting .305 with a .324 OBP and is slugging .421. Her eight doubles lead the team and she has scored 15 runs, walked three times, and only struck out eight times in 95 at-bats. She has stolen four bases without being caught.
Thrasher, who has posted seven multi-hit games this season, was named the conference Hitter of the Week on March 4 after she had a big weekend for the Ladies, going 5-for-8 (.625) with seven RBI in four games at home against Arlington Baptist and Concordia. She had three doubles, scored two runs, and stole one base. Thrasher went 4-for-7 with six RBI, two runs scored, and a stolen base in the Ladies' DH sweep of Arlington Baptist. Thrasher had a .750 on-base percentage over the four games and slugged 1.667.
Sophomore SS Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) is in the midst of an impressive season as a follow-up to a stellar rookie campaign as she is hitting .323 with a .389 OBP and is slugging .344. Stokes is second on the team in hits (31), second in runs scored (17), and is third in RBI with 13. She has 11 walks and only four strikeouts in 96 at-bats and has stolen two bases.
Senior 1B Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) is batting .326 (.381 OBP/.372 slugging) with 28 hits (fourth on team), 12 RBI (fourth on team), four doubles (third on team), and eight runs scored. She has eight walks and only eight K's in 86 at-bats and has stolen one base in three attempts.
The Ladies, prior to the Pirates' win over TLU last month, became the first SCAC team in four seasons to defeat the Bulldogs as they recorded a 7-6 home win over the No. 4 Bulldogs on March 25 last season. That loss marked the national power Bulldogs' first conference loss in four seasons.
TLU is hitting .407 as a team with an OBP of .468 and slugs .517. The Bulldogs average 8.3 runs per game and have hit nine home runs. TLU boasts a 1.74 ERA and has tossed 10 complete games.
Senior P Ashlyn Strother is the Bulldogs' top pitcher as the TLU ace is 13-0 with an 0.80 ERA and has thrown eight complete games. Sophomore IF Caelee Clark and junior UT Kylee Jack form a powerful offensive duo as the two have combined for 64 hits, 38 RBI, 22 walks, 48 runs scored, 16 extra-base hits and just six strikeouts. Clark leads the country in stolen bases with 52 and has only been caught twice. Cox, who is 39-42 on the base paths, is 13 SB's behind her as this weekend is a showcase of the top two base-stealers in the country.
Centenary began its longest road trip of the season last weekend in Georgetown, Texas as the Maroon and White faced the Pirates and continue the nine-game trip versus Texas Lutheran and wrap up next weekend against St. Thomas in Houston. The Ladies will finish the regular season at home April 27-28 against Trinity.
See the complete Ladies' season schedule here: https://centenary.prestosports.com/sports/sball/2023-24/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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