FULTON, Mo.— With just eight games remaining, the No. 23-ranked William Woods University softball team controls its own destiny in winning the American Midwest Conference regular season title. The Owls will look to continue its impressive play, as the team hosts Harris-Stowe State on Friday afternoon. First-pitch will be thrown at 2 p.m., with game two following at 4 p.m.
The Owls (26-15; 12-2 AMC), have absolutely dominated its AMC opponents, especially in the last week and a half, as WWU has won 9 out of its last 10 and have outscored its opponents 86-10.
During its last time out, the Owls defeated Park University 5-2 and extended its winning streak to nine games, but the Pirates played spoiler in the nightcap, as they took game two in comeback fashion, winning 6-4.
The loss momentarily, dropped the Owls out of first place in the AMC, but Missouri Baptist was able to split a make-up doubleheader against first place Columbia College, which put WWU right back in first and if the Owls win its remaining games, the team will win the regular season title and earn an automatic bid to Nationals.
In the last 10 games, the offense has been unstoppable, batting an outstanding .412, with 110 hits, 18 doubles, eight triples and five home runs. Sophomore
Emily Murphy was able to extend her hitting streak to a career-high 11 games against the Pirates and is now batting .484 the last 10 games, and leads the team in hits (15) and RBI (11).
Freshman
Hannah Campbell has been a bright spot at the top of the order batting .467 (14-for-30) with 12 runs scored and hit her second collegiate home run against the Pirates on Tuesday evening, while junior
Kacey Scharnhorst continues to be an impactful hitter, batting .464 (13-for-28) with seven runs scored and eight RBI the last 10 conference games.
In AMC play, the Owls hold a .389 average in 14 games, which is second best behind Columbia's .396 average. Ten players are batting over .300 against conference pitching, with
Beth Begemann having the top average at .600 (9-for-14) with four runs scored, one home run, four RBI and a .933 slugging percentage in 11 appearances.
Murphy and Campbell are hitting .516 and .500 respectively at the plate for the Owls, and have combined for 36 hits, 19 runs scored, six doubles, three triples, two home runs and 24 RBI.
Scharnhorst, meanwhile, is tied with
Lindsey LeCuru on the season with 28 RBI, after totaling 15 RBI in 14 conference games and batting .436 at the plate. Catcher
Macy Wierschem has upped her season average to .333, after hitting .435 (10-for-23) in 11 AMC games and holds an on-base percentage of .618.
The pitching staff of
Julie Scheer,
MacKenzie Bowden and
Becca Schemmer have been fantastic this year, as the trio ranks first in multiple categories against AMC hitters, including ERA (0.92), opponent batting average (.183), hits allowed (56), runs allowed (15), earned runs allowed (11) and walks (13).
The trio has also struck out a combined 291 batters, which ranks first not only in the AMC, but in the NAIA as well and are ranked 10
th in the NAIA in opponent batting average (.204) and ERA (1.63).
The Hornets (0-24; 0-16 AMC), have struggled during the 2014 season, as the team searches for its first win on the year and have been shut out 15 times already in 24 games.
The team is batting .168 on the season, and are led by Hannah Hicks .341 average (14-for-41) with two runs scored, three triples and team-leading five RBI. Chelsea Zerrer is second on the team, hitting .300 (12-for-40), while Kristine Hallaquist is batting .222, but is tied for the team lead in hits (14) and is second on the Hornets with five runs scored and three RBI.
On the rubber, the Hornets have a 9.24 ERA and are led by Zerrer's 4.33 earned run average in five starts, throwing two complete games and striking out 11 batters. Jackie Dooley (0-17) leads the staff in multiple categories including, complete games (11), innings pitched (84.0) and strikeouts (19).
If the Owls sweep Harris-Stowe on Friday afternoon, that would give the team 14 AMC victories, which would be the most in program history, surpassing the previous mark of 13 set back in 2009.
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and scores from Backer Sports Complex.
