The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Hosts No. 2 Alabama In Home Opener Tuesday
2/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 20, 2012
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB softball team will host No. 2 Alabama in its 2012 home opener Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at UAB Softball Field. This marks the third straight season that the Blazers have opened their home slate against the Crimson Tide.
UAB (5-5) is currently hitting .234 as a team with 62 hits and 29 runs. In the circle, the Blazers have a 2.88 team ERA. The Green and Gold has struck out 68 batters in 68 innings of work.
Mandy Lowman leads the Blazers with a .455 batting average (10-for-22). She has collected a team-high five RBI and scored four more. Catherine Crawford and Whitney Fletcher are each batting .286 with eight hits and six runs apiece.
Multimedia
GameTracker, Blazers All-Access live video and a live in-game chat will be available by logging on to www.UABsports.com.
Series History
The Blazers are looking to pick up their first ever victory over the Crimson Tide, with Alabama leading the all-time series, 10-0. The Blazers fell 3-0 in last season’s home opener. Both teams went on to have successful seasons and participate in the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide advanced to the semifinals, before being eliminated by Florida.
Scouting No. 2 Alabama
Last weekend, Alabama competed in the ACC/SEC/Big 12 Challenge hosted by Auburn University. The Crimson Tide went 3-0, downing No. 20 Georgia Tech, 12-9, Virginia Tech, 7-3, and No. 15 Oklahoma State, 3-1.
Alabama (7-0) is hitting .387 as a team and has posted 72 hits and 60 runs. The Crimson Tide owns a 1.43 team ERA and has held opponents to a .173 batting average.
Jackie Traina (5-0) has a 1.17 ERA, and is holding opponents to a .168 batting average. She has fanned 43 batters and surrendered just five earned runs in five appearances and 30.0 innings pitched. Leslie Jury (2-0) has also seen time in the circle, posting a 0.75 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched.
At the plate, Alabama has four players hitting above the .400 mark. Jazlyn Lunceford is hitting a team-high .526 with 10 hits in 19 at bats. Amanda Locke and Kayla Braud each have a .474 batting average with nine hits apiece. Locke leads the Tide with nine RBI.
Weekend Recap
Last weekend, UAB went 2-3 at the Hillenbrand Invitational hosted by Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. The Blazers shut out the Southern Utah Thunderbirds, 2-0, but fell to host Arizona, 7-0, on the first day of action. Amber Torres pitched the complete game against the Thunderbirds and fanned a career-high 10 batters.
Saturday the Blazers opened with a 9-8 victory over North Dakota. Whitney Fletcher crossed the plate three times for the Blazers and drove in one more. UAB next faced Western Kentucky. The Blazers jumped out early thanks to an RBI triple from Catherine Crawford. But with UAB in the lead, 2-1, the Hilltoppers added two runs in the top of the seventh and the Blazers were unable to retaliate.
UAB fell, 6-0, in a rematch with WKU in its final game of the tournament.
Cover It Live In-Game Chat
Cover It Live is a live chat room that UAB will be providing during softball contests throughout the 2012 season. It allows fans to ask questions, answer polls and find out additional information about the team through the live chat feature. Comments are not automatically added to the live chat, but are screened and then posted. The live chat is free of charge and will be available for all UAB softball games in 2012 on www.UABsports.com.
Crawford’s Triples
Senior Catherine Crawford smacked two triples last weekend, bumping her season total up to three.
Her first triple of the weekend against North Dakota marked the 10th of her career and the most by any UAB player in program history, surpassing the previous record of nine set by Amanda Ellis (2001-04).
Walking The Line
UAB leads C-USA with 32 walks. Senior Mandy Lowman tops the team and the league with 10 walks on the season. Junior Whitney Fletcher is second on the team and in the league with seven walks. Last season, Lowman walked a career- and team-high 29 times.
Back-To-Back Jacks
In UAB’s season opener against UMass, senior Mandy Lowman and sophomore Kristen McGrath hit back-to-back homeruns in the bottom of the seventh to lift UAB to the 3-2 victory.
Lowman hit a two-run bomb over the left field wall to tie the game. McGrath stepped to the plate and hit the walk-off homer to give UAB its ninth win in season openers.
Consecutive Starts
Senior catcher Mandy Lowman has made 155 consecutive starts dating back to March 24, 2009. In addition, she has appeared in all of UAB’s 182 games throughout her collegiate career.
Blazers Picked To Finish Third In C-USA
The Blazers have been picked to finish third in this season’s conference race. Tulsa was picked to win the league in 2012, receiving 79 points and seven first-place votes from C-USA’s nine head coaches. Houston was chosen to finish as the runner-up with 67 points and one first-place vote, and UAB was picked to round out the top-three preseason selections, receiving 60 points and one first-place vote.
