FULTON, Mo. -- The William Woods University softball team will close out its eight-game home stand on Wednesday with a return to American Midwest Conference action. The Owls will host league newcomers Benedictine University-Springfield in a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Backer Field. WWU looks to maintain its position atop the AMC standings in the double dip.
Quick Look - William Woods
The Owls bring a team batting average of .257 into the doubleheader, led by
Caroline Sicht with a .369 mark through 26 games. Sicht has also posted an impressive slugging percentage of .524 on the year, with two home runs, a triple and five doubles on the year, yielding a team-high 21 RBI.
Lindsey LeCuru and
Ilissa Facchini are also above .300 on the year, with LeCuru equaling Sicht's 31 hits for a .356 average, rapping out a team-best 10 doubles for a slugging percentage of .506. Facchini has a .333 batting average, but has been exceptionally patient on the year, earning 24 walks - a full third of WWU's 73 - for an on-base percentage of .535. She has also collected 13 sacrifice hits on the year and 11 RBI.
Kelsey Schulte also boasts a slugging percentage over .500, with a three home runs and four triples - both team highs - as well as four doubles for a SP of .516.
The Owls are strong from the pitching circle as well, with a pair of pitchers boasting sub 2.0 ERAs on the year with a team mark of 2.28. Schulte leads the team with a 1.63 ERA, allowing 18 earned runs over 77.1 innings pitched and compiling a 6-4 record in 13 appearances - 10 starts.
MacKenzie Bowden has compiled a 7-3 record in 12 appearances, going the distance in all eight of her starts and picking up two shutouts along the way. She has also picked up the lone save for the Owls on the year, posting a 1.73 ERA in 65.0 innings pitched, striking out 93 batters - including a string of 30 across three appearances last week - allowing just 20 walks.
Becca Schemmer has also been solid for the Owls, posting an ERA of 3.32 in her eight appearances, grabbing a 3-3 record on the 2012 campaign.
Defensively, the Owls are solid, recording 21.185 putouts per game - second-most in the nation - and the 20th-best fielding percentage in the country at .964. WWU has been charged with just 29 errors in 807 chances. The Owls have also been awesome defending the basepaths, allowing just 12 steals in 26 attempts on the year.
In addition to the team's national rankings, Bowden is seventh in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (12.88) and 16th in total strikeouts at 93, as well as 44th in the country with an opponent's batting average of just .190. Schulte ranks 10th in total triples, with LeCuru ranked 41st in total doubles with 10.
Quick Look - Benedictine University-Springfield
American Midwest Conference newcomers Benedictine University-Springfield comes into Wednesday's contests with a 4-13-1 record and a 3-1 mark in AMC play. Althought the Bulldogs have struggled through the non-conference schedule, they do have four players hitting at better than a .300 clip. Kerri Beasley and Randi Cookus lead the team with identical .365 batting averages, picking up 19 hits in 52 at bats each. Beasley holds the higher slugging percentage on the year, with two home runs and four doubles for a .558 slugging mark, but Cookus is slightly more patient at the plate, inking a .424 on-base percentage with six walks. Madeline Jiardina has collected a .333 average on the year but has stepped it up in conference play, with a .625 average - five hits in eight at-bats across three appearances - with three RBI. Brittani Parks rounds out the .300 club for Benedictine-Springfield, hitting .314 on the year. Just under the threshold, Logan Taylor posts a .277 average on the year, but leads the team with 12 RBI. As a team, Benedictine-Springfield has managed just a .252 batting average, striking out 82 times on the year and collecting 45 walks.
Defensively, the Bulldogs have struggled a bit, allowing 41 stolen bases against and posting just a .902 fielding percentage. The Bulldogs have been charged with 50 errors in 502 chances on the 2012 campaign, with Madeline Jiardina the only non-pitcher to escape unscathed. They have given up 122 runs on the year, scoring just 69.
From the circle, Benedictine-Springfield has mustered a team ERA of 5.60 with 34 of the 122 runs suffered being unearned on the year. Kayla McDonald is the only pitcher with a sub-5.0 ERA on the year, with a 4.93 mark thought 38.1 innings pitched. Stephanie Angelo leads the staff with two wins on the year, posting a 5.40 ERA in 46.2 IP. She has struck out a team-high 31 batters on the year, although she has also allowed 20 walks and given up a team-high seven home runs on the year, posting a 2-5 record in eight starts.
Seven Innings. No More, No Less
On the 2012 season, the Owls are a perfect 9-0 in games that don't last the regulation seven innings. WWU is a perfect 5-0 in extra-inning contests, highlighted by an exciting 2-1 win over Baker in 10 innings last Sunday. However, the Owls have also compiled a perfect 4-0 record in shortened contests, winning three games by mercy rule and one due to weather while never suffering a mercy reversal.
