Bears Continue A-Sun Play At Stetson
4/11/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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MACON, Fla. – Coming off a pair of weekend doubleheader splits against visiting Jacksonville and North Florida, the Mercer softball looks to improve on its early 5-3 conference record on Thursday with a pair games slated at Stetson.
Head Coach James DeFeo and the Bears stand at 24-16 overall on the year and after briefly sitting atop the A-Sun standings, look to improve on their record in conference play with the season's end quickly approaching. In a stretch that saw the Bears lose their first conference match 8-7 at Upstate, DeFeo's bunch have won five of seven and outscored opponents 21-14.
LAST TIME OUT
MACON, Ga. – Mercer continued its trend of splitting home doubleheaders as the Bears took game one against both Jacksonville and North Florida while dropping close contests in game two of the doubleheaders.
Kicking off the latest homestand, the Bears fell behind 2-0 early in game one against Jacksonville. The lower part of the Mercer lineup would respond with three runs in the bottom half of the second and would never look back. Krista Kennedy's two-run home run in third was Mercer's first at home this season.
In game two, the Bears offense was stifled by JU's Brittany Eppley. Eppley went the distance and piled up 13 strikeouts in the 3-0 shutout. Jacksonville's Amanda Schmidt provided the offense for the Dolphins with her three-run home run in the third.
With the same duo of Kassie Bailey and Jessica Holsinger slated to pitch games one and two for the Bears, the results would be the same.
In game one, Kassie Bailey did everything from dazzle in the circle and deliver a clutch hit. Bailey didn't allow an earned run over seven innings of work. She struck out eight and allowed six hits. With two outs and the game knotted 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Bailey stroked a walk-off single over the shortstop's reach to score the hustling Caitlin Peisel.
Game two proved to be a tough result to swallow as the Bears lost their fourth one-run game of the season. With a slight change to the lineup, hitters three through eight went a combined 0-for-16 with eight runners stranded on base. Pitcher Jessica Holsinger threw her 12th complete game of the season in the losing effort. It was her second straight loss. She is now 11-4 on the year.
SCOUTING THE HATTERS
Coming off their impressive doubleheader sweep of Lipscomb, the Stetson Hatters (19-14, 4-4 A-Sun) have won six of their last 10 contests.
In the Saturday doubleheader, game one was deadlocked 0-0 in the eighth when designated player Courtney Brandt drove in the lone run of the game with a RBI base hit off the right field wall.
Game two proved much of the same as Brandt deposited Lipscomb's first offering of the seventh over the left field fence for the 5-3 lead. The two-run shot was her fourth of the year.
While the Hatters are only 19-14 on the season, they have played extremely well at home with a 17-9 record in DeLand, Fla.
The Hatters feature only one everyday player with a batting average north of .300. Starting pitcher and infielder Meredith Owen is hitting .304 while leading the team in wins (11), appearances (23), games started (19), complete games (16), strikeouts (114) and innings pitched (134.2) from the circle. Owen leads a Stetson pitching staff that is second in the A-Sun with a 1.95 team ERA.
GAME NOTES
Entering the doubleheader with Stetson, sophomore McKenzie Woody continues to lead the A-Sun in batting average (.432), runs (38), hits (57) and on-base percentage (.503).
After a weekend that saw Caitlin Peisel catch fire in the batter's box, the senior out of Marietta bumped her average from .217 to .328 with nine hits in four games. Peisel had just 10 hits entering the weekend.
The Bears have played a total of five doubleheaders at home so far this season. They have won the front end and lost the back end of four of the five back-to-backs. Their lone sweep came against Alabama State on March 19.
