March 17, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University softball team will travel to Botetourt, Va. to participate in its last regular season tournament when it begins play in the Radford Invitational this weekend. One of six teams in the tournament, the Hoyas will play doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, before closing things out with a single game on Sunday morning.
GU will take on Delaware (3 p.m.) and Ball State (5 p.m.) tomorrow and will match up against Robert Morris (1 a.m.) and host Radford (3 p.m.) on Saturday. Georgetown will conclude the tournament with a tilt against BIG EAST rival Pittsburgh on Sunday morning (11 a.m.).
The Hoyas are hitting the road after opening their home schedule with a pair of losses in a doubleheader against Princeton on Wednesday at Guy Mason Field. The Blue & Gray dropped the first game, 11-6, and fell in the nightcap, 9-1, in six innings.
Junior Cara Savarese (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) tops the team in a number of offensive categories, including average (.358), hits (19) and doubles (5). She is followed closely by fellow junior Mackensey Carter (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo), who is batting .266, with 16 hits, three doubles and two home runs. Carter has been on a tear over the last five games, going 7-for-16 (.438), with two of those hits being round-trippers.
Sophomore Shikara Lowe (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) leads the squad in home runs (3) and slugging percentage (.511) and is tied for the team lead in RBI (6) with freshman Alexandria Anttila (Antioch, Ill./Antioch Community). Anttila and senior Jillian Webb (Hemet, Calif./Hemet) both enter the tournament with three-game hitting streaks.
Georgetown has never played Robert Morris or Ball State and has had limited success against Pittsburgh (1-4), Delaware (0-1) and Radford (0-5). After the tournament, six of the Hoyas' next seven games will be at home.
Delaware: The Blue Hens enter the tournament with a 7-11 overall record and are coming off of an 11-5 victory in the second game of a Tuesday doubleheader against Temple. Bertie Lake (.440), Michell McKinnon (.341) and Lara Andrews (.327) are the team's most potent offensive threats. Four of Gina Knutson's 12 hits on the year have been home runs.
Ball State: Ball State (11-10) comes to Virginia in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Alicia Barkley has 31 hits in 75 at bats while Jennifer Gilbert has four home runs and 12 RBI. Audra Sanders (6-6) has started 11 games, posting a 3.36 ERA in 73.0 innings.
Robert Morris: Robert Morris has lost their last two games by three runs combined and sits at 7-9 on the season. Annie Dubovec (.370, 2 HR, 10 RBI) is the Colonial's offensive leader as well as their top performer in the circle, where she has a 1.79 ERA in six appearances.
Radford: The hosts of the tournament are 14-9 and have split their last six games after a nine-game winning streak. Pitching is the Highlanders' strength - all three starters (Jackie Jenkins, Stephanie Dameron and Chelsea Kelley) carry an ERA under 2.50.
Pittsburgh: The Panthers (13-5) swept BIG EAST weekly honors for the first time in program history last week. Kelly Hmiel was named Player of the Week after batting .824 and Alyssa O'Connell threw two shutouts to earn BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week honors.
