 |
Hooch Fagaly and the Huskies will face tough competition in Cathedral City.
|
Feb. 22, 2012
Weekly Release
SEATTLE - UW is off to another hot start, beginning the season at 10-0 and moving up to No. 5 in the NFCA Top 25 Poll and No. 7 in the USA Softball/ESPN.com Poll. This week though, UW heads to the always tough Cathedral City Classic in Calif., to face five of the top 25 teams. UW begins the week by facing No. 1 and undefeated Florida on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. The Huskies will then have two games on Friday, the first at 10:30 a.m. vs. No. 16/14 Texas A&M and then at 1 p.m. vs. No. 13/13 Georgia. On Saturday UW will play a re-match of last year's Super Regionals vs. Missouri at 5 p.m. The tournament concludes for the Huskies in their second meeting of the year vs. No. 22/22 Nebraska on Sunday at 11 a.m. Live stats/audio will be available for free for all games on www.gohuskies.com. Tournament websites: http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/cathedral-classic.html and http://palmspringssoftballclassic.com/.
Scouting No. 1/3 Florida
Florida is the top team for the second-straight week in the NFCA poll at a perfect 9-0 on the season and is No. 3 in the USA Softball/ESPN.com poll behind Cal and Alabama. UW leads the overall series 8-3. The last time the two teams met was at the WCWS in 2009 in which UW defeated Florida twice to win the National Championship in the final series. UW last lost to Florida on the road three times in 2002. The Gators are led by Brittany Schutte at the plate who is hitting .560 with 14 hits, three doubles and 12 RBI. Sami Fagan is hitting .552 with 16 hits. In the circle, Hannah Rogers is 5-0 and hasn't allowing a single earned run on the season.
Scouting No. 16/14 Texas A&M
The Aggies are No. 16/14 in the polls this week with an 8-2 record. UW leads the series vs. Texas A&M 4-3. The last four meetings between the two have been at neutral sites. The Aggies went 5-0 last week with wins over Sam Houston State, NC State, Tulsa and UT-San Antonio. They are led by Emily Albus with a .455 average. Meagan May already has 16 walks on the year. Lindsey Sisk and Mel Dumezich are both 4-1 in the circle.
Scouting No. 13/13 Georgia
Georgia is ranked 13th in both polls with an 8-1 record. UW leads the overall series 7-4 but Georgia won the last meeting at the 2010 WCWS, 6-3. Georgia has used three effective pitchers this season. Erin Arevalo is 4-0 with a 0.56 ERA, Morgan Montemayor is 2-1 with a 1.11 ERA and Tess Sito is 2-0 and hasn't allowed an earned run this season. At the plate, Kristyn Sandberg (.526) and Ashley Pauly (.520) are the leaders with a combined 21 RBI and three of the five team home runs.
Scouting No. 11/11 Missouri
Missouri is ranked No. 11 in both polls and has only played four games this season with a 3-1 record. This is a much anticipated matchup from last year's NCAA Super Regionals in which Missouri won two in Columbia to advance to the WCWS and send UW packing back to Seattle. Chelsea Thomas returns for the Tigers and is 1-1 on the year allowing only two unearned runs. Kristin Nottelmann is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA. Jenna Marston is hitting .583 to lead the team with seven hits and Lindsey Muller has two home runs, hitting .571.
Scouting No. 22/22 Nebraska
Nebraska will be the first team UW sees twice this season. UW faced the Huskers in the 2012 season opener at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., and defeated the ranked team 4-0. Sophomore Kaitlin Inglesby pitched a complete game shutout in the first meeting. UW leads the overall series 7-3. Ashley Hagemann pitched against UW in the first meeting; she is 4-2 on the year with a 3.67 ERA. Tatum Edwards is 4-1 with a 1.07 ERA. Ashley Guile and Madison Drake are each hitting .500. As a team, Nebraska has an impressive 91 RBI.
