Mississippi Valley State Women's Softball (0-5) vs. LA Tech (6-0); Abilene Christian (1-3); Wichita State (2-3); Southeastern Missouri (4-1)
Date(s): Friday, Feb. 15, 2019; Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019; Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019
Time(s): 4:00 p.m. (CT); 1:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. (CT); 11:00 a.m. (CT)
Facility: Lady Techster Softball Complex (Ruston, LA)
Live Links: Tournament Central
 
DEVILETTES OVERVIEW: Last weekend, Mississippi Valley State (0-5) opened the season last at the Southeastern Louisiana Tourney taking on San Jose State, Northern Illinois, Southeastern Louisiana and Southern Illinois in three days. Senior Dejanae Gage recorded six hits and scored a pair of runs to lead the team in the opening weekend. Freshman Demi Slater recorded a team-best three RBI and homered against Southeastern Louisiana while sophomore Deshonte Smith also tallied three RBI and had two doubles. Sophomore Alyssa Montes pitched a team-high nine innings in two starts striking out three batters. Under the direction of Coach Smith, the Devilettes are ranked in the Southwestern Athletic Conference top five in doubles per game (0.80), fielding percentage (0.924), slugging percentage (0.313), batting average (0.252), and scoring (2.00). Senior Sharia Cormier also sits in the top five for hit by pitch per game (0.25). Earlier this season, senior outfielder Kailyn Dunn was named to the pre-season All-SWAC First Team. Jodeci Afoa-Tuia and Deshonte Smith also notched pre-season honors for the Devilettes by being named to the All-SWAC Second Team. Afoa-Tuia was the top run producer for the Devilettes last season with 24 RBIs, Alyssa Montes lead the team with 73.2 innings with a 6-8 record and 35 strikeouts.
 
LOUSIANA TECH OVERVIEW: Louisiana Tech (6-0) most recent win came against Southeastern Louisiana, 7-4. The six-game win streak is the best start the Lady Techsters' softball program has had since 1988. LA Tech enters the 2019 season after an overall 34-23 record last season with a 9-11 record in the conference and 8-8 record on the road. The Lady Techsters are in Conference USA, and last season achieved a 17-4 record at home. LA Tech is under the direction of seventh year head coach Mark Montgomery and has established himself since taking over the program in 2013. In six seasons, Montgomery has registered a 323-291 (.526) record, led the program to four 30-plus win seasons since 1990, the 2017 NCAA Tournament, and the Conference USA Tournament. The Lady Techsters rank in the top 3 of their conference in win-loss percentage (1.000), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.71), home runs per game (1.00), and fielding percentage (0.985), which also gives them a national rank of 19^th. Mary Terral leads the conference in home runs (3), while ranking within the top three in home runs per game (0.60) and total bases (16). Terral (0.421, 4 HR, 9 RBI), Kimmie Atienza (0.400, 6 runs), Zoe Hicks (0.389, 4 RBI), Bayli Simon (0.389, 3 doubles), Lindsay Edwards (0.333, 2 runs) and Morgan Turkoly (0.278, 6 RBI) pace the offense for LA Tech.
 
ABILENE CHRISTIAN OVERVIEW: Abilene Christian (1-3) is a member of the Southland Conference where they went 15-12 against conference opponents during the 2018 season. Under the direction of ninth year head coach Bobby Reeves, Abilene Christian recorded a 23-26 record last season with a 9-11 record on the road, 10-8 record at home, and 4-7 record at neutral sites. Reeves has a 332-366 (0.476) record through his 13 years of coaching at the collegiate level. This season ACU was picked to finish eighth out of the 12 teams in the conference. The Lady Wildcats opened their season at the Bobcat Classic, and as a unit hit .221. Junior Blair Clayton who leads the team with a .667 slugging percentage had the lone home run for the Lady Wildcats during the tournament. Sophomore Samantha Bradley went 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA in her four appearances last weekend. The Lady Wildcats rank second in the Southland Conference for triples per game (0.25) and sit within the top five for stolen bases per game (1.50) and fielding percentage (0.955).  Thus far in the conference, sophomore Katelyn Belch sits in the tops three in walks (1.00), triples per game (0.25), and triples (1), while Bradley ranks third in runs batted in per game (1.25) and fifth in doubles per game (0.50).
 
WICHITA STATE OVERVIEW: Wichita State (2-3) us under the direction of eighth year head coach Kristi Bredbenner. Wichita has made two NCAA Regional Appearances (2016, 2018), and last season they made the NCAA Regional Final game for the first time. Bredbenner has a 202-181 (0.527) overall record at Wichita State and an overall 528-282 (0.652) record in 14 seasons. The Lady Shockers lead the ACC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.11), second in triples per game (0.40), home runs per game (0.60) rank second in triples per game (0.25), and third in slugging percentage (0.386), fielding percentage (0.972), and batting average (0.258). Senior Bailey Lange recorded a 20-13 record last season in the circle while batting .285 with 7 home runs and is a player to watch in the contest. This season, sophomore Caitlin Bingham sits in the top three within the conference in victories (2), strikeouts (20), while freshman Lauren Mill and junior Madison Perrigan rank within the conference in slugging percentage (0.774; 0.667), toughest to strike out (0.0), and walks (1.00; 0.80).
 
SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI STATE OVERVIEW: Southeastern Missouri (4-1, 0-0) is predicted to finish fifth out of 12 in the Ohio Valley Conference and began the season on the road at the UNI Dome Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Last season, the Southeastern Missouri finished with an overall record of 33-20 with a fourth-place finish in the conference going 15-7. On the road, the Lady Redhawks were 9-13, but 13-3 at home and 11-4 at neutral sites. The Lady Redhawks are led by fourth year head coach Mark Redburn who has a 181-282 (.391) overall record in his nine years at with the Redhawks. Last season, Redburn coached the Lady Redhawks to the most wins in a season the program has seen in the last 20 years and the best finish in the conference since 2009. Southeastern Missouri also recorded an RPI ranking of 74 out of the 296 NCAA Division I teams during that highlighted 2018 season. The Lady Redhawks are currently leading the conference in batting average (0.348), triples per game (1.00), and win-loss percentage (0.800), while sitting in the top three for double plays per game (0.40), earned run average (3.18), fielding percentage (0.960), slugging percentage (0.532), scoring (7.20), and stolen bases per game (1.60).
 
UP NEXT: The Devilettes will begin SWAC conference play hosting to Grambling State in a double-header on February 20. Games will be played at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.