Unbeaten Blue Hens Return To Action This Weekend With Five Games at Jacksonville University Invitational
February 21, 2013
Jacksonville Invitational Live Stats
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The University of Delaware softball team returns to action following a weekend off as the Blue Hens will play five games this weekend at the Jacksonville University Invitational.
Delaware, which is 4-0 on the season after capturing the Jimmy John’s Lion Classic hosted by Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 8-9, will kick off the tournament on Friday with a 9:30 a.m. game with Mount St. Mary’s. The Blue Hens will then face Seton Hall at 2 p.m. later that day.
Delaware will face South Alabama on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. before taking on the host Dolphins at 4:15 p.m that afternoon. The Blue Hens wrap up play by again battling Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. All games will take place at the JU Softball Complex.
Delaware is off to one of the best starts in school history as the 1982 and 1997 teams also opened their campaigns with four straight wins, while the Blue Hens kicked off their inaugural season in 1976 with 12 consecutive victories.
The Blue Hens are led by freshman center fielder Hannah George, who was named the CAA Rookie of the Week after pacing UD with six hits and a .600 batting average during the season-opening tournament. Freshman second baseman Tori Conrad batted .571 on the weekend, while senior third baseman Lara Andrews earned conference Player of the Week honors as she hit .417 with team-highs of three home runs, five RBI, and five runs scored.
Five Blue Hens saw action in the circle, combining to allow just eight runs in four games while posting a 1.21 team earned run average. Taylor Curran, Kiersten Coffman, Chenxi Jiao and Amanda Stacevicz each picked up victories, while Jiao also earned a save. The Blue Hens hit .330 as a team during their opening weekend, while limiting their opponents to a .192 batting average.
Jacksonville, which will be hosting its second tournament in as many weeks, enters play with an 8-3 overall record. Sarah Simon is hitting .406 with five home runs and 10 RBI for the Dolphins, who are hitting .300 as a team thus far. Cecile Gomez is 3-0 with a 0.72 earned run average for Jacksonville, while Victoria Brown is also 3-0 with a 0.91 ERA.
Mount St. Mary’s will be playing its season-opener this weekend, as the Mountaineers went 17-34 overall last season and 8-12 in the Northeast Conference. Nicole Pagano was the Mount’s top pitcher by going 11-11 with a 1.47 ERA, while Liz Christiansen led the squad with a .320 batting average, 47 hits, nine doubles, nine home runs and 43 RBI.
Seton Hall is 2-2 on the young season, after the Pirates kicked off their year by splitting four games at the Campbell Tournament on Feb. 8-9. Danielle DeStaso leads Seton Hall with a .692 batting average by going 9 of 13 from the plate with three doubles, two homers and eight RBI, while Brittany Hammer is hitting .313 for the Pirates.
South Alabama has opened the season in impressive fashion, as the Jaguars are 9-1 and enter the weekend with eight consecutive victories. Julie Moss, Britany Campbell and Haley Fagan are all hitting .364 to pace South Alabama, while the Jaguars have allowed just 16 runs in 10 games in the circle.
Delaware has won all 14 meetings with Mount St. Mary’s, although the teams have not faced each other since the 2002 season. The Blue Hens are 1-2 all-time against Seton Hall, and have never faced Jacksonville or South Alabama.
