LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The 2015 SCAC Softball Championship is set to begin on Friday, April 24th and will run through Sunday, April 26th in Kerrville, Texas on the campus of Schreiner University. Official Website l Interactive Bracket
#1 Texas Lutheran University (33-4, 23-0 SCAC)
Texas Lutheran enters the 2015 SCAC Championship as the defending champion. The Bulldogs have rolled through the 2015 season with an overall record of 33-4 and a perfect conference mark of 23-0. TLU is 44-1 all-time in regular-season conference play. Counting SCAC tournament action, the Bulldogs are 47-1 against conference squads. TLU advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago and upset then-No. 3 University of Texas at Tyler in the Tyler Regional. The Bulldogs have a current national ranking of 16th in the NFCA Polls.
Wade Wilson, TLU's fourth-year head coach, has guided TLU to a pair of SCAC regular-season titles, to the 2014 SCAC Championship, and to the 2014 NCAA tournament appearance. The Bulldogs have eight of nine starters returning from last season's record-setting squad. TLU also has the bulk of its pitching staff back from the 2014 team. Seventeen current squad members were on the 2014 championship team.
The Bulldogs of 2015 lead the SCAC in hitting, pitch ing and fielding percentage. Nationally, the Bulldogs are ranked sixth in fielding percentage, 18th in on-base percentage, 10th in stolen bases, and 16th in won-loss percentage. Junior pitcher Taylor Grissom ranks third nationally in ERA and in hits allowed per seven innings. Grissom currently holds at 30th nationally in wins. The Bulldogs enter the 2015 tournament as the top seed for a second consecutive year. TLU out-scored SCAC foes 16-2 in the conference tournament last season.
#2 Trinity University (33-4, 23-0 SCAC)
After starting the year at 3-14, seven-time SCAC Champion Trinity was facing the possibility of missing out on the SCAC Tournament for the first time ever. The Tigers sprinted to the finish of the regular season with 13 wins in their last 15 games to finish the year with a .500 overall record, and a #2 seed in the tournament with a 10-6 SCAC mark.
Trinity will have a trio of pitchers available at the tournament, led by Kaci Wellik and her team-low 2.89 ERA this season. Wellik has won eight straight decisions to move to 8-6 overall, tossing four shutouts and recording 66 strikeouts in 92 innings pitched. Offensively, the Tigers are led by Caitlynn Dykes and Lauren Mercado. Dykes leads the way with a .359 batting average and 23 RBI, while Mercado has a team-best six doubles and four home runs.
Though Trinity has won more SCAC titles than any other team in league history, the program has fallen short of the ultimate prize every year since its last title in 2007. The Tigers have finished as the SCAC runner-up each of the past four seasons, and Brandi Crnkovic has been there each year as either an assistant in 2011 and 2012, or as the head coach the past two tournaments. Coach Crnkovic will be pushing for her first career SCAC Championship, and subsequently, a return to the NCAA Playoffs for the Tigers.
#3 University of Dallas (20-14, 13-9 SCAC)
The University of Dallas softball team enters the postseason with a 20-14 record overall and a 13-9 record versus Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), earning them the No. 3 seed in the SCAC Championship tournament. The Lady Crusaders will play the No. 6 Seed on Friday, Apr. 24 at 2 p.m. Dallas made a six-win improvement within the league to boast its highest total since becoming a member four years ago. The Crusaders matched the most in program history in 2009, and is the most for a squad since the 2010 team rattled off an 18-18 record.
As a team, Dallas is hitting .283 with four players above the .300 line. Headlining the quartet is senior Taylor Garcia with a .385 mark. Junior Erin Begle and sophomore Lyda Tesauro are right behind smacking .356 and .354 clips, respectively. Begle has posted five doubles, two triples, and 16 RBI. Tesauro ranks first in runs scored with 31, third in hits at 34, and has been a perfect 23-of-23 in stolen bases. Sophomore Avery Finch completes the unit with a .330 average and leads the conference and team with a single-season record, 29 steals.
The Navy and White are atop the SCAC with 94 stolen bases, and are second among league opponents with 2.79 earned-run-average (ERA). Responsible for most of that average is sophomore Katie Lee. The native of Houston, Texas, has spun a 2.56 ERA and compiled a single-season program record in wins with 19, and innings pitched with 205.
#4 Southwestern University (16-19, 12-9 SCAC)
The Southwestern University softball team enters the postseason with a 16-19 record overall and a 12-9 record in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play, earning them the No. 4 seed in the SCAC Championship tournament. The Pirates will play the No. 5 Seed Austin College on Friday, Apr. 24 at 12 p.m. Southwestern has struggled as of late, losing their final five games and eight of their last 10 games going into the weekend. The Pirates are a two time SCAC champion with their last championship coming in 2013. Both titles have come under sixth year Head Coach Angela Froboese and both titles have come despite a loss in the tournament, winning two games on the final day.
As a team, Southwestern is one of the top hitting teams in the conference, boasting a .314 average, good enough for No. 2 in the SCAC. They are led by sophomore outfielder Marissa Irvin, who leads the conference with a .430 average. Freshman Sydney Oolog and juniors Michelle Ramos and Stacy Rosengren are three of the top five run producers for the Pirates, combining for 67 of the teams 166 RBIs. Rosengren leads the team in homeruns with three and doubles with 10.
The Pirates bring a strop defense with a .962 fielding percentage. In the circle, Southwestern has had some struggles, coming in with a 4.33 ERA, tied for fifth in the SCAC. Sophomore Cozette Palmer has been the go-to pitcher for the Pirates, coming in with a 10-11 record in 29 starts including a 4.30 ERA to go with 68 strikeouts on the season. Sophomore Alyssa Novander has pitched in 26 games this season, mainly relief, and boasts a 4.38 ERA and a 5-8 record with one save.
#5 Austin College (10-14, 5-13 SCAC)
Austin College (5-13 SCAC; 10-14 overall) will be the fifth seed for this year's SCAC Softball Tournament – the second consecutive year the 'Roos qualify for the event as the fifth seed.
Sophomore Hailey Clendennen leads the team and is third in the conference in batting average at .412, while first-year Raquel Vara and junior Briana Hernandez have been the team's big boppers. Vara is fourth in the league in doubles (11), ninth in slugging percentage (.513) and 10th in batting average (.368) while Hernandez is seventh in slugging percentage (.540). Freshman Delaney England has chipped in with 22 hits and 11 RBIs.
Junior Sophia Hernandez and sophomore Victoria Herrera have split mound duties for the 'Roos this season. Herrera leads the team and is sixth in the SCAC in both ERA (3.66) and wins (7) and is second in the conference in strikeouts with 68. Hernandez has three wins in 69.0 innings of work with an ERA of 4.97. Austin College opens SCAC postseason play on Friday with a Noon matchup against fourth-seeded Southwestern University. The two teams split their four-game conference series back in early April. Southwestern holds a 2-0 all-time tournament edge over Austin, picking up victories over the 'Roos in the 2012 and 2013 championships.
#6 Schreiner University (7-29, 6-16 SCAC)
The host institution of the 2015 SCAC Softball Tournament, Schreiner University (6-16 SCAC; 7-29 overall) enters as the sixth seed and on a high note as the Mountaineers swept fifth-seeded Austin College in the team' final doubleheader of the regular season. Every time she fills out a lineup card, first-year head coach Amy Meyer is rolling out perhaps the youngest lineup in the SCAC. Fourteen of the team's 17 players are either freshmen or sophomores, including three of its top four hitters and the entire pitching staff.
The freshmen duo of Sydney Christopher and Samantha Cordon are 1-2 on the team in hits with 37 and 36, respectively. In addition to leading the team in hits, Christopher also holds the team lead in RBI (28), doubles (14) and slugging percentage (.500). Cordon is second in RBI (18) and third in slugging percentage (.452). Sophomore Nichole Schoenherr has 31 hits, nine doubles and a team-leading 16 runs scored while fellow second-year player Sarah Worrell has 13 RBI and eight doubles.
In the circle, freshman Lorena Espinoza has logged the most innings (114.0 IP) en route to 11 complete games and an an ERA of 4.24. Schreiner opens tournament play on Friday at 2 p.m. with a match-up against the third seed, the University of Dallas. Earlier this month, the Mountaineers dropped all four games of a four-game set to the Crusaders in Irving.
