Stretch Run Starts in Colorado for Lady Jackets (Apr. 20, 2004)
BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings
softball team plays the first two of its final nine games of the
season Wednesday at Northern Colorado. The Yellowjackets will
close the season with seven straight home games at Cenex Stadium,
four of which will be against conference foe BYU-Hawaii and three
against Northern Colorado.
The final stretch begins with a 2:00 p.m.
doubleheader in Greeley, Colo., against the Bears, who are
transitioning between NCAA Division II and Division I. UNC has
played a mixed schedule this season, with about half of its games
against DII teams and the other half against DI opposition. The
Bears are 6-23 overall with four of the six wins coming against DI
teams. UNC has suffered some of the close game frustrations that
the Yellowjackets have experienced. The Bears are 4-12 in games
decided by two runs or less, while the Yellowjackets are 8-14.
The Bears’ have had an explosive offense for
most of the season, but their pitching and defense have been their
Achilles’ heel. UNC doesn’t have a pitcher with an ERA lower than
4.20 and none of the Bears’ hurlers has more than 36 strikeouts.
Their three pitchers are allowing teams to bat .317. Stacey Moon
has logged a team-high 80 innings and has a 1-8 record and a 4.20
ERA. Stephanie Miller is 4-8 with a 4.54 ERA and 36 strikeouts.
Offensively, the Bears’ lineup has five
players batting over .290, led by Erin Peterson’s .420 batting
average. Peterson has hit nine home runs, driven in 25 RBI and
scored 22 runs. The senior from Great Falls, Mont., also has five
doubles and two triples for an eye-popping .846 slugging
percentage. Along with producing big numbers when she swings the
bat, she has also walked 19 times and has a .524 on base
percentage.
Three other Bears are hitting over .300, with
Whitney Platten at .370, Brooke Boyer at .316 and Stephanie Miller
at .302. Platten has hit six home runs this season and driven in
21 RBI. She leads the team with nine doubles and has also scored
11 runs.
The Bears’ struggling pitching will be
meeting a Yellowjackets team that has been swinging hot bats for
the past few weeks. In its last 15 games, MSU Billings is 10-5
with a team batting average of .295. Fourteen of the
Yellowjackets’ 23 home runs have come during that 15-game stretch,
with Layne Pavey, Theresa Campbell and Stephanie Cochrun belting
three apiece.
Pavey, a junior catcher from Spokane, Wash.,
leads the team in batting average (.314), home runs (4), total
bases (63), slugging percentage (.460) and on base percentage
(.369). She has also scored 17 runs and doubled eight times. In
her last 15 games, she has hit .488 with a .767 slugging
percentage.
Junior shortstop Cami Rainey (Terreton, ID)
is batting .308 and is second on the team with 24 runs scored.
She leads the team with 10 doubles and has also hit three home
runs for a .451 slugging percentage. Junior third baseman Sara
Hanley (Kalispell, MT) is hitting .306 and is tied for third on
the team with 20 runs scored.
Junior Joey Ehnes, a pitcher/infielder from
Great Falls, Mont., leads the team with 25 runs scored and 25
RBI. She is batting .285 in a team-high 151 at bats. Ehnes is
also the Yellowjackets’ top pitcher with a 16-15 record and a 2.15
ERA in 34 appearances. She ranks 28th in the nation
for pitching victories and has already set school single season
records for victories, innings pitched (188 2/3) and strikeouts
(206).
Juniors Megan McCrae (Brandon, Manitoba) and
Stephanie Cochrun (Lake Stevens, WA) have combined for 109 2/3
innings. McCrae is 2-9 with a 4.70 ERA and 44 strikeouts.
Cochrun is 1-3 with a 3.72 ERA.
Following Wednesday’s double dip in Greeley,
the Yellowjackets close the season with seven games at Cenex
Stadium, a park that has given up an average of 2.5 home runs a
game this season. The first four games will be PacWest Conference
games against BYU-Hawaii on April 24 and 26.
The Seasiders are 11-16 overall and 3-5 in
the PacWest. They rely on a three pitcher rotation led by Lisa
Hansen and Echo Hatch. Hansen is 4-3 with a 1.87 ERA. She has 24
strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings and is holding opponents to a .251
batting average. Hatch is 5-6 with a 2.03 ERA in 82 2/3 innings.
She has struck out 57 and walked just 15 while opponents are
hitting at a .261 clip against her.
BYU-Hawaii’s offense is anchored by Mandy
Kirkham and Chynna Wilcox, who are each hitting .333 for the
season. Wilcox leads the team with 11 runs scored. Amanda Nino,
Teresa Rushton and Rachel Delany are tied for the team lead with
nine RBI apiece.
MSU Billings Remaining Schedule
Wednesday, April 21 – at Northern Colorado (2 & 4 p.m.)
Saturday, April 24 – vs. BYU-Hawaii at Cenex Stadium (3 & 5 p.m.)
Monday, April 26 – vs. BYU-Hawaii at Cenex Stadium (12 & 2 p.m.)
Saturday, May 1 – vs. Northern Colorado at Cenex Stadium (3 & 5
p.m.)
Sunday, May 2 – vs. Northern Colorado at Cenex Stadium (1 p.m.) |
