SHSU Southland Softball Tournament Facts
5/7/2014 3:00:00 PM | Softball
SOUTHLAND SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
BACK IN THE SOUTHLAND SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Sam Houston is making its 12th Southland Conference post-season appearance as the Kats have earned the No. 3 seed at the 2014 event in Hammond, La.
The Bearkats own a 30-18 record in Southland tournament play. Only Northwestern State (40), Texas State (36) and McNeese (35) own more tournament wins than the Bearkats.
The SHSU women won the tournament championship in 1988 and 2007. The Kats have reached the Southland finals five times, finishing as runners-up in 2005, 2012 and 2013.
BEARKATS VERSUS BEARS IN OPENING ROUND MATCH-UP
No. 3 seed Sam Houston will face No. 6 UCA, Thursday at 1:30 p.m. to open play in the 2014 tournament. Sam Houston finished the season with an overall record of 26-25 and a conference record of 15-11. UCA returns to the tournament for the third straight year after finishing the regular season with a 24-32 overall record and 13-13 in league play. The two teams did not meet during the regular season.
KATS AT THE PREVIOUS TOURNAMENT IN HAMMOND
The 2005 tournament also was in Hammond, La. McNeese defeated the Bearkats in the finals, coming out of the losers' bracket to win three straight on the final day.
FINALISTS THE PAST TWO YEARS
Sam Houston has reached the finals each of the past two years. Last May, the Kats became only the fifth team in the 21-year history of the tournament to roll through the elimination bracket and force an “if necessary” game in the championship final.
SEEDING SUCCESS AT PAST 24 SOUTHLAND TOURNAMENTS
In the 26-year history of the Southland softball tournament, the No. 1 seed has won the championship 12 times.
HOME RUN POWER IN BEARKAT LINE-UP
Three of Sam Houston's six all-time home run leaders are in the 2014 Bearkat line-up. Hillary Adams owns the SHSU career record with 30. Sarah Allison stands third all-time with 22 home runs. Tiffany Castillo ranks sixth with 18.
ALL SOUTHLAND BEARKATS
Six Sam Houston softball players were voted to the 2014 All-Southland Conference team.Catcher Tiffany Castillo is a second team selection while first baseman Sarah Allison, shortstop Tayler Gray and pitcher Shelby Lancaster were named to the third team. Designated player Hillary Adams and pitcher Haley Baros were honorable mention selections. The six All-Southland honorees combined to lead Sam Houston to a 26-25 overall regular season record and a third place finish in the 2014 Southland race with a 13-8 league mark.
VOLLEYBALL PLAYER NOW PLAYING SHORTSTOP
Junior shortstop Tayler Gray is a two-time All-Southland setter who helped lead the Bearkats to a Southland championship in 2012. A two-sport letter winner as a freshman in 2010-11, she elected to concentrate on volleyball for the next three seasons. Now working on her Masters' degree, she is back playing softball. Gray sports a .326 batting average this year.
BEARKATS HAVE TOTALED 42 HOME RUNS IN 2014
The Bearkats' 42 home runs in 2014 stand as the third highest total by an SHSU team. The school record is 59 home runs in 61 games set by the 2012 Sam Houston squad.
CASTILLO SISTERS
The Castillo sisters, Cecilia and Tiffany, from Port Lavaca Calhoun, give the Bearkats a one-two punch. Cecilia, SHSU's senior right fielder, sports a .346 batting average while younger sister. Tiffany, a sophomore catcher, hits .294. The pair rank first and third in hitting for SHSU in 2014.
SECOND BASEMAN ALYSSA COGGINS
Four-year starter Alyssa Coggins from Sealy has all 216 games at second base for Sam Houston the past four years. Coggins stands 4th in Bearkat career assists (479). The Kat record for most games played is held by Christy Roschal who appeared in an SHSU uniform 227 times from 1989 to 1993. Coggins was honored as week as a CoSIDA Academic All-Region selection with her 3.75 undergraduate GPA and a perfect 4.0 working on her master's in business,
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The 2014 Southland Conference Softball Tournament plays a six-team double elimination format with a possibility of 11 games. The 11th game would be played in the event an undefeated team lost in the title game forcing a second game, upholding the double elimination format.
SOUTHLAND TOURNAMENT STREAMED LIVE
The 2014 Southland Softball Tournament, with the exception of the championship game, will be streamed live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including Southland.org and the league's mobile/tablet apps, available at: Southland.org/apps.
The championship game of the tournament will be carried exclusively on ESPN3, Saturday, May 10 at 2 p.m. Chris Mycoskie, assistant commissioner of television and electronic media for the Southland Conference, will handle play-by play for all games, while three-time Southland softball coach of the year Yvette Girouard will be the color analyst and former Lady Lion Kati Morse, will join him for the championship as the dugout reporter.
The Southland Digital Network is available at southland.org, as well as the official SLC mobile app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. ESPN3 programming can be found on WatchESPN.com, plus the WatchESPN app for iPhone, iPad, Android and XBOX Live systems.
