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Feb. 20, 2013
SEATTLE - The No. 22/22 Washington softball team returns to the state of California for five games as a part of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, Feb. 21-23. The tournament was previous called the Cathedral City Classic and although renamed, will still be played in Cathedral City, Calif. The Huskies are 6-5 on the season after five games in the Campbell/Cartier Classic hosted by San Diego State last weekend. This week, the UW will face Virginia, No. 23/23 Florida State, Illinois and No. 13/16 Georgia. Thursday night the Huskies will also play an exhibition game against the USSSA Pride. Virginia currently has a 4-4 record with wins over Robert Morris, St. Bonaventure, Memphis and Nicholls State. Infielder Marcy Bowdren leads the team in batting average at .300 with three RBI. Megan Harris has a .455 slugging percentage. Pitcher Melanie Mitchell has led the Cavs in the circle, sporting a 3-1 record, 0.47 ERA, two shutouts, and holding teams to a .191 batting average. This will be the first match-up between the two teams. The USSSA Pride is a professional softball team that plays in the National Pro Fastpitch League (NPF). They are from Kissimmee, Fla., and were formed in 2009. Since then, they have finished as runners-up in the NPF twice (2009, 2011) and champions once (2010). They have four former UW players on their roster, including Ashley Charters, Danielle Lawrie, Jenn Salling, and Niki Williams. No. 23/23 Florida State has started the season 7-2, its sole losses coming against No. 21-ranked Tulsa. Tiffani Brown leads the team in hits with 15, including a .469 batting average. Courtney Senas leads the team in home runs with 10, along with a triple and a .857 slugging percentage. Lacey Waldrop has led FSU in the circle with a 3-0 record and 0.39 ERA, allowing just 11 hits and two runs. UW leads the series at 6-5, with the Huskies winning the last meeting on March 12, 2009, by a score of 4-1. Illinois currently sports a record of 5-5, coming off a 7-5 win against Houston. One of Illinois' top hitters is Jess Perkins, who has nine hits, including two home runs and two doubles, a .360 batting average, and 17 RBI. Pitcher Pepper Gay has led the team with a 4-2 record plus two relief appearances, giving up 22 runs and a .174 batting average. The last time UW played Illinois was March 20, 2011 where UW won 3-2. The Huskies lead the series 3-0. No. 13/16 Georgia has started the season with a 6-2 record, and has won its last four games. Freshman Geri Ann Glasco has been very strong at the plate, hitting .520 with four home runs, four doubles, 12 RBI and a 1.160 slugging percentage. She has also won all three starts as a pitcher with a 2.37 ERA and 25 strikeouts. Morgan Montemayor has also been strong in the circle with a 3-1 record and 1.59 ERA. UW and Georgia met last season on March 15, where the Huskies won 4-3 at this very tournament. Washington has dominated the overall series with an 8-1 record. Please note that the Georgia game time has been moved up 30 minutes to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. |
