Kats staring tourney berth at HBU
5/4/2017 1:54:00 PM | Softball
Games 46-48
Sam Houston State (20-25, 11-13 SLC) at Houston Baptist (17-23, 8-16 SLC)
Houston • Husky Field (300)
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HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State Bearkats will wrap up the regular season this weekend with a three-game series at Houston Baptist starting Friday at Husky Field, looking to secure a berth in the Southland Conference Tournament.
The series will kick off with a doubleheader on Friday in Houston with Game 1 set for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Sam Houston will close out the weekend on Saturday at noon against the Huskies.
With just one conference weekend remaining, the Bearkats are squarely in the picture for a berth in the six-team tournament field that will kick off the SLC Tournament next weekend in Conway, Ark.
Half of the field has already punched their tickets for Conway, but the remaining seeds are up for grabs. The Kats currently sit in a two-way tie with Northwestern State for the final spot, but are just a game back of both Southeastern Louisiana and Central Arkansas while Stephen F. Austin and HBU are both still mathematically alive.
A sweep of the Huskies would clinch a berth in the tournament for Sam Houston, but a number of tiebreak scenarios still exist going into the weekend.
The Bearkats found themselves in great position in the league standings going into last weekend after series wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Abilene Christian before falling in three games at Southeastern Louisiana. Meanwhile, HBU has managed to keep its postseason hopes alive with series wins in its last two weekends, including taking two of three from Northwestern State a week ago in Houston.
Tori Koerselman is coming off a weekend series that earned her Southland Conference Hitter of the Week honors, reaching base in 11 of 12 plate appearances and delivering nine hits against Southeastern Louisiana. That effort elevated her season average to .384 which, if the season ended today, would be the seventh best single-season mark in program history.
Meanwhile, freshmen Tiffany Thompson and Megan Crosby have each hit a team-best six homers while Thompson leads the team in RBI. The Kats have not had a freshman lead the team in RBI since Sarah Allison in 2011, or home runs since Kara Reeves in 2005.
For the Huskies, Cecilia Bauer has led their offense in 2017, topping the team in home runs (8) while being tied with Kassie James for the team lead in batting average (.308) and RBI (21). HBU has used just three pitchers this season with Emily Mueller having thrown nearly half of the team's 268.0 innings. She sports an 8-14 record and a 3.53 ERA entering the weekend, but has issued 61 walks to just 41 strikeouts.
SERIES vs HOUSTON BAPTIST
The Bearkats own a 23-7 all-time record against the Huskies. Sam Houston won eight of the first nine meetings between the teams after HBU joined the Southland for the 2014 season, but the Huskies pulled out a series win a year ago in Huntsville.
