The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Hosts Tulsa In Final Regular-Season Series
5/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 4, 2012
GameTracker Game 1 | Game 2 | Blazer Vision | Live Chat
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The second-place UAB softball team will host league-leading Tulsa in a three-game series this weekend. The top two teams in Conference USA will battle for the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming C-USA Softball Championship May 10-12 hosted by UAB.
The first game of the series scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. CT on Saturday will be televised regionally on SportSouth. It will mark the first time a contest is televised at the UAB Softball Field.
Following Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale, the Blazers' six seniors will be honored on Senior Day.
UAB is one game behind Tulsa in the C-USA standings. The Blazers need to win at least two of the three games to be at least co-winners of the regular season and earn the No. 1 seed in the C-USA tournament.
UAB At A Glance
The Blazers (35-17, 16-5) are winners of eight in their last 10 games and are riding a five-game win streak after defeating Lipscomb, 4-0 and 3-0, in a midweek twinbill before sweeping Southern Miss.
As a team, UAB is batting .288 with 224 runs, 399 hits, 198 RBI, 58 doubles, seven triples and 52 home runs. Five Blazers are hitting over .300 led by senior Mandy Lowman (.366, 53-for-145). Lowman tops in the team in slugging (.662) and on-base (.462) percentages. Kristen McGrath leads the squad in home runs (14), hits (54) and RBI (39).
The UAB pitching staff is second in conference with a 2.13 ERA. In the circle, the Blazers have struck out 338 batters and walked 122 in 351.0 innings pitched. Senior Amber Torres (10-3, 1.04 ERA) and sophomore Lannah Campbell (13-6, 1.67 ERA) each have five shutouts. Sophomore Leigh Streetman has seen the most time in the circle with 120.0 innings pitched and 116 strikeouts.
Scouting Tulsa
The Golden Hurricane (36-11, 17-4) is also on a five-game win streak and winners of eight of its last 10 games. Tulsa's last loss came in C-USA play at the hands of Houston, 5-2 (4/21).
Tulsa is batting an impressive .318 as a team, tops in C-USA. Tulsa also leads the league in on-base percentage (.393) and hits (408).
Jill Barrett holds the top spot on Tulsa's roster. The sophomore is batting .440 with 70 hits and 40 runs.
A double threat, Lacey Middlebrooks owns a .345 batting average and a 1.97 ERA in the circle.
She has 41 hits, 35 RBI and a team-best 13 doubles. On the rubber, she is 17-4, pitching 149.1 innings with 117 hits, 42 earned runs, 80 walks and 110 strikeouts.
Series History
The Blazers and Golden Hurricane will meet for the 23rd time on Saturday. Tulsa holds the all-time advantage, 14-8.
The Blazers took one of three games April 22-23, 2011 in Tulsa, Okla. All three games of the series were decided by one run with UAB losing games one and three, 2-1 and 1-0, and winning game two, 7-6.
National Polls
Tulsa is receiving 23 votes in the most recent USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll and 20 votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
UAB is also receiving votes with three in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
2012 Conference USA Championship
The 2012 C-USA Softball Championship is just two weeks away. The tournament will be hosted by UAB for the first time ever on May 10-12 at the UAB Softball Field. All-session tickets are now on sale and single session tickets can be purchased at the gate.
The tournament bracket will be announced May 6. CBS Sports Network will televise the Championship game on Saturday, May 12 at 1 p.m..
Playing The Top Teams
UAB's record against Top 50 RPI teams is 7-8 and its record against Top 100 RPI teams is 20-15.
This season the Blazers have played 20 teams currently in the top 100 RPI.
Latest RPI
UAB is rated No. 40 in the NCAA's latest RPI and the third highest among C-USA schools. Tulsa is ranked No. 37 and UCF holds the top C-USA spot at No. 35.
On April 16, UAB had its highest-ever ranking RPI at No. 33.
Record Watch
Mandy Lowman's 124 RBI are currently tied with UAB's career record set by Cliffanie Engram (2000-03).
