Houston- The Centenary softball team is on the road this weekend to face the University of St. Thomas Celts in a pivotal three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series beginning on Saturday with a doubleheader set for 11 a.m. at the West University Softball Association fields.
Live stats and live video are available for all three games of the series at the links below:
Stats: https://ustcelts.com/sports/sball/2023-24/boxscores/20240420_2428.xml
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6UszxsUXtY
The Ladies (13-19, 8-7 SCAC) and Celts (19-9, 12-3 SCAC) will complete the series on Sunday with a single game set for Noon. Centenary is 4-13 on the road this season and aims to snap a four-game losing streak overall as the Ladies were swept by nationally-ranked Texas Lutheran last weekend in Seguin, Texas.
St. Thomas, 6-3 at home this season, enters Saturday's play winners of six games in a row. The Celts recorded a sweep of Schreiner University at home last weekend which followed a home sweep of the University of Dallas two weeks ago. The Celts have won six of seven all-time meetings in the series which dates back to 2021.
The Ladies are currently in fourth place in the conference standings, four games behind the Celts who occupy third 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 .301 as a team with a .362 on-base percentage and are slugging .369. They average 4.5 runs per game and have a team ERA of 4.09. Centenary has collected 258 hits, 46 for extra bases, with 316 total bases which includes 77 walks and 14 HBP. The Ladies have 15 sacrifice flies and have stolen 56 bases. Centenary is ranked in the top five in the conference in batting average, hits, runs scored, RBI, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. The Ladies have collected 10+ hits in game 14 times this season and Centenary's 258 hits rank 48th in the country in division III and the Ladies are 84th in stolen bases.
Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) is in the middle of a sensational senior season as she is hitting a team-best .465 with a .548 on-base percentage and is slugging .624. She has stolen 38 bases which is second nationally in all of division III and has only been caught three times. She leads the conference and is 25th in the country in hits and is the league leader in runs scored and is 41st in the nation. Cox, named the SCAC Hitter of the Week earlier this month, has 16 multi-hit games this season including four games with 3-hits 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 Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) is ranked in the top 10 in the SCAC with an ERA of 3.42. She is 2-2 this season with a save and two complete games and has 34 strikeouts in 45.0 IP. She has made 13 appearances and three starts. Junior P Anna Scarbrock (Alexandria, La.) has not pitched since she suffered an injury against Schreiner on March 29 at home. Scarbrock was in the midst of an outstanding season as she is 6-5 with a 2.54 ERA in 13 appearances and 11 starts. She has struck out 22 and walked only six batters in 63.1 IP. She started that game last month against Schreiner and went 5.1 innings and allowed just three hits with a strikeout but left after being hit in the hand with a line drive. Scarbrock was named the SCAC Pitcher of the Week on March 18.
This weekend is the culmination of a season-long nine-game road trip for the Ladies. Centenary 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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