First place Islanders visit Saturday
4/15/2011 9:45:00 AM | Softball
The top six finishers in the final regular season standings earn berths in the Southland Tournament which will be hosted by Sam Houston May 12-14 at Bearkat Softball Complex.
But the SHSU softball squad currently ranks seventh in the conference standings. And this weekend the Kats face Southland Conference leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Islanders stand 17-4 in conference action and 33-11 for the year. A&M-Corpus Christi features the league's top offense as TAMUCC sports a .299 team batting average.
Hannah Schwarz (.384) and Caley Jeter (.344) rank third and eighth, respectively, among the Southland's top hitters with batting averages.
Sam Houston stands 15-25 overall after a 4-1 loss to No. 20 Texas A&M Wednesday night. The Bearkats are 7-10 in Southland action, two games behind sixth place UTSA.
The Bearkats' other three remaining series are with second place UT-Arlington, eighth place Southeastern Louisiana and ninth place Central Arkansas.
Sam Houston shortstop Hailey Wiginton leads the Bearkats and ranks 11th in the Southland with her .326 batting average.
Wiginton is nearing several Bearkat softball career records.
With a .348 career batting average, Wiginton stands as Sam Houston's second all-time leading hitter. Lauren Boone compiled a .366 batting average in 2003 to 2006.
Wiginton is 15 hits away from breaking the school record for career hits. Boone totaled 226 hits in 205 games. Wiginton has 212 hits in 196 contests since stepping onto the field for Sam Houston in 2008.
The Sam Houston versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball series begins with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday. The final game of the series will start at 12 noon Sunday.
Tickets for the Southland Conference softball tournament and for the final two home softball series are available online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is 936 294-1729.
