The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Set To Host Kennesaw State Tuesday
2/27/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 27, 2012
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB softball team will host Kennesaw State in a mid-week doubleheader Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT at the UAB Softball Field.
The Blazers (5-6) lost 8-1 to No. 2 Alabama in its most recent competition on Feb. 21.
Senior catcher Mandy Lowman leads the Blazers with a .400 batting average (10-for-25). She has collected five RBI and scored four more. Kristen McGrath is hitting .258 and leads the team with four home runs and seven RBI.
In the circle, Amber Torres (1-2) owns a 1.79 ERA with one shutout and one save. She has fanned 16 batters in 15.2 innings pitched. Leigh Streetman (1-2) has struck out 30 batters in 30.1 innings. She has allowed 32 hits and 16 earned runs.
Multimedia
GameTracker, Blazers All-Access live video and a live in-game chat will be available by logging on to www.UABsports.com.
Scouting Kennesaw State
Last weekend, Kennesaw State went 2-2 in its Phyllis Rafter Memorial Tournament. The Owls defeated Alabama State, 11-0, and Bradley, 10-1 on Friday and fell 4-3 to both Robert Morris and Saint Louis on Saturday.
KSU (8-3) is hitting .287 as a team and has posted 80 hits and 57 runs. The Owls own a 1.49 team ERA and have held opponents to a .215 batting average.
The Owls are currently in third place in the Atlantic Sun Conference and lead the league in home runs (16) and strikeouts looking (37).
Sophomore pitcher Amanda Henderson is responsible for the majority of those strikeouts, fanning 47 batters in 27.1 innings pitched with just two walks allowed. Senior catcher Lindsay Vollmer leads the Owls with a .464 batting average, good for third in the conference.
Series History
The Blazers and Owls have played a doubleheader every season dating back to 2007. UAB leads the all-time series 8-2 and has out scored KSU 36-23.
The last meeting on April, 12, 2011 was also a doubleheader, in which the two teams split. The Blazers won the first game, 2-0, but fell in the nightcap, 6-0.
Cover It Live In-Game Chat
Cover It Live is a live chat 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.
Home Run Hitter
Sophomore Kristen McGrath needs just one more home run to tie her season-best of five. She currently has a team-best four bombs on the season.
Crawford’s Triples
Senior Catherine Crawford smacked two triples at Hillenbrand Invitational Feb. 17-19, bumping her season total up to three.
Her first triple that weekend against North Dakota marked the 10th of her career and the most by any UAB player in program history, surpassing the previous record set by Amanda Ellis (2001-04).
Walking the Line
UAB is second in C-USA with 36 base on balls. Senior Mandy Lowman tops the team and is second-best in the league with 10 walks on the season. Junior Whitney Fletcher is second on the team and fifth 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 156 consecutive starts dating back to March 24, 2009. In addition, she has appeared in all of UAB’s 183 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.
