Feb. 24, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University softball team will participate in the second of four early season tournaments on its 2011 schedule when it heads South to play at the Carolina Classic, hosted by the University of North Carolina, for the first time in program history this weekend.
The Hoyas (1-4) will play two games in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Friday, opening up the tournament with a contest against Saint Joseph's at 2 p.m., followed by a night game against the host Tar Heels with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. The team will play one game apiece the following two days, battling Penn State on Saturday at 1 p.m., and matching up with North Carolina State on Sunday at 4 p.m.
The Blue & Gray are coming off of a 1-4 performance at the Homewood Suites/Hilton Garden Inn Florida Gulf Coast University Tournament last weekend in Fort Myers, Fla. After dropping both games of a doubleheader on the first day of the tournament, the squad bounced back on Saturday, winning a 3-2 thriller against Saint Louis after pushing across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Junior Mackensey Carter (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) pitched a complete game, giving up only one earned run and striking out four to get the win. The two-time All-BIG EAST selection also recorded four hits on the weekend to lead the Hoyas.
Sophomore Shikara Lowe (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) paces the team on offense, batting .250 with a home run and three RBI in five starts.
"Shikara Lowe did a fantastic job behind the plate, handled our young pitching staff well and swung a great bat," Head Coach Pat Conlan said of Lowe's play in Florida.
Georgetown's leaderboard also features a number of new faces, as the Hoyas had five freshmen make a combined 20 starts in the first weekend's games. First-year players Alexandria Anttila (Antioch, Ill./Antioch Community) and Jenna Stark (Huntington Beach, Calif./Orange Lutheran) both made strong debuts, combining for six hits and three RBI while starting every game.
"I think our freshmen brought a new enthusiasm to our team," Conlan said. "I thought they swung the bats well for their first weekend of college ball."
Saint Joseph's: The Hawks come to Chapel Hill after opening their season at the Coastal Carolina Tournament last weekend with a 2-3 record. The team has four players with at least 10 at-bats who are batting over .300, led by Dana Parks, who has 10 hits and is batting .556. Saint Joseph's defeated the Hoyas in the teams' only other meeting, 3-2, on March 21, 2010.
North Carolina: North Carolina (6-4) is coming off of a doubleheader sweep of UNC Wilmington on Wednesday where they blanked the Seahawks by a combined score of 15-0 (7-0, 8-0). The squad has a .292 team batting average and a 3.39 staff ERA. The Tar Heels and Hoyas have squared off once previously, with UNC shutting out Georgetown in a March 6, 2009 matchup, 4-0.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions are 2-3 on the young season and have been shut out in all three losses. Four of the team's five games have been decided by three runs or fewer and a strong pitching staff led by Lisa Akamine (1-2, 1.54 ERA) has given up more than three runs only once. This will be the first meeting between the teams.
NC State: NC State (6-4) has won four of its last five games by a combined 22 runs and features a balanced offense that has a .309 batting average and scores 5.5 runs per game. Four starters have reached double digits in hits, with three of the four batting over .400. NC State and Georgetown have played once before, with the Hoyas claiming an 8-2 win on March 6, 2010.
Live stats for every game of the tournament can be found here.
