BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The WKU softball team will be back in action on Wednesday and Thursday when they host Tennessee Tech and Middle Tennessee in two midweek games. On Wednesday night, the Lady Toppers will face Tennessee Tech at the WKU Softball Complex at 6 p.m. CT. On Thursday, WKU and Middle Tennessee will meet for a single game that is slated to begin at 5 p.m. WKU is currently 26-22 this season and 5-13 in the Sun Belt Conference with just seven games to go in the regular season.
NOTING THE LADY TOPPERS
• The WKU softball team (26-22) finished the week with a 1-4 record after splitting a doubleheader with Morehead State and falling in three games to North Texas.
• Senior Kelsey McCauley had a big week for the Lady Toppers finishing with a .400 batting average after racking up six hits, two doubles, one home run, one RBI and a .733 slugging percentage. Seniors Brooke Reed, Lindsay Antone and Rachelle Boucher also finished the week with a .400 batting average or better with Reed leading the way with a .467 average. As a team, the Lady Toppers finished the five games with a .282 batting average, 37 hits, 14 runs, five doubles, one triple, one home run and a .359 slugging percentage.
• WKU holds a winning record over Tennessee Tech and is 5-4 all-time against the Golden Eagles. WKU and Tennessee Tech will meet on Wednesday for a single game at 6 p.m. Last season, WKU defeated the Golden Eagles 3-0 on April 1, 2009. WKU and Middle Tennessee will hit the field for a single game on Thursday night that is slated to begin at 5 p.m. CT. WKU is 18-18 all-time against the Middle Tennessee and swept the Blue Raiders last season winning 7-2 and 11-3.
• The Lady Toppers are currently ranked sixth in the conference in batting average and fourth in the SBC in pitching. In batting, Louisiana-Lafayette is leading the way in the conference with a .306 average while WKU is currently batting .257. In pitching, WKU is behind Florida Atlantic, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, who is in third. The Owls pitching staff has posted a 2.12 ERA this season while WKU has a 2.52 ERA. in team fielding, WKU is currently ranked first in the conference with a .966 fielding percentage.
• Mallorie Sulaski is currently ranked 11th in the Sun Belt Conference in batting with a .354 batting average. The freshman has racked up 35 hits in 35 games while scoring 11 runs and posting 15 RBI. She is also tied for second in the conference in triples with three. Joining Sulaski in the SBC individual rankings is freshman pitcher Kim Wagner. Wagner is currently third in the conference in pitching with a 1.93 ERA. This season she has given up just 56 runs and 137 hits in over 145 innings of work.
• The Lady Toppers are also shining in the nation with many WKU athletes ranked in the top 100 in the country. Freshman Mallorie Sulaski is currently ranked 45th in the nation in batting average with her average of .388. In addition, she is also ranked 30th in triples and 84th in on base percentage and 36th in saves. Kim Wagner is also ranked in several categories with a 35th place ranking in ERA, a 42nd place ranking in victories, and 38th in shutouts. Senior Lindsay Antone and freshman Ciara Garcia are also ranked in the top 100 in sacrifice flies with both players tied for 31st in the country. As a team, the Lady Toppers are ranked 29th in fielding percentage and 48th in ERA.
• For the first time in her career, freshman softball pitcher Kim Wagner has been named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced on April 5. Following her near perfect performances against Troy this weekend she becomes the third Lady Topper to be honored this season joining senior Lindsay Antone and freshman Mallorie Sulaski.Wagner finished the weekend with a 0.49 ERA after giving up just seven hits and one run in over 15 innings of work. In her three appearances, she walked just three batters and struck out eight while facing 56 batters. In game one of the series, Wagner pitched a complete game going eight innings and giving up just one run and four hits. She followed up that performance in game two recording the first save of her career going two innings and giving up zero hits. She ended the weekend on Saturday pitching 5.2 innings and allowing Troy just three hits and zero runs. With her 2-0 weekend, she is now 13-5 this season.
• Freshman Mallorie Sulaski was named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week on March 15 after defeating Florida Atlantic and Iowa. Sulaski finished the week with a .049 ERA after giving up just one earned run. She pitched 14.1 innings and struck out 14 batters. In addition at the plate, she finished with a .308 batting average with four hits, one RBI and scoring one run. This was the first Pitcher of the Week honor for Sulaski in her career and her second consecutive player of the week honor.
• Freshman Mallorie Sulaski was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on March 8 after leading the Lady Toppers to a 3-2 record in the Buzz Classic. Sulaski finished the weekend with a .615 batting average after racking up eight hits, including one double and her first career home run, scoring three runs, five RBI, a .923 slugging percentage and two walks. Against Jacksonville State, she led the team with three hits in three at bats while posting two RBI. She followed up that performance against Howard by racking up a team-high two hits, two RBI and scoring two runs. On Sunday, she recorded one hit and scored one run against Tennessee-Martin before finishing the tournament against Georgia State with another two runs and one RBI. At the conclusion of the tournament, she was named to the Buzz Classic All-Tournament Team, the first All-Tournament Team honor of her career.
• Freshman Mallorie Sulaski was named to the Buzz Classic All-Tournament team after a fantastic weekend during the tournament. The Lakewood, Colo. native, finished the weekend leading the Lady Toppers in batting average, runs, homeruns, slugging percentage and RBI. She also saw time in the pitching circle going ten innings and striking out six batters.
• After a fantastic weekend in the San Diego State Tournament this past weekend, softball player Lindsay Antone has been named the Sun Belt Conference’s Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday. The senior picks up the award for the first time this season and the second time in her career.
Antone finished the tournament with a .636 batting average after posting seven hits, including two doubles and a homerun, seven RBI, a 1.091 slugging percentage and a .733 on-base percentage. She was also perfect in the field recording six putouts, seven assists and zero fielding errors. Against Penn State, she recorded a double and drove in three runs in WKU’s 5-4 opening win over the Nittany Lions. She followed up that performance against San Diego State with another hit and one more RBI. Then against UC Santa Barbara, she recorded another two hits and one RBI in the team’s shut-out win. Finally, she finished the weekend against Utah State with a team-high three hits, including her first homerun of the season, two RBI and scoring three runs.
• Senior Kelsey McCauley was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team after finishing the 2009 season with a .270 batting average after finishing fourth on the team in hits with 49 and fifth in RBI with 21. She also finished the year tied for second on the team in triples and fourth in homeruns. She posted a hit in 33 of 53 games and started the season with a hit in the first ten games of the year including two against Samford and Sacramento State. She also recorded six walks and recorded a .253 or better hitting percentage in all 53 games. In addition, she also recorded a .333 batting average or better in the first 22 games of the season and she finished the year ranked fifth on the team in slugging percentage. In the field, she posted a .938 fielding percentage after posting just four errors in the outfield.
• The 2010 Lady Toppers were picked to finish the season sixth in the Sun Belt Conference in a poll by the league’s head coaches. WKU picked up 39 points in the poll and finished ahead of South Alabama, ULM and Middle Tennessee. FIU, who was picked to repeat as Sun Belt Conference champions, picked up eight of the nine first place votes and led Troy, FIU, Florida Atlantic and North Texas in the poll.
• After final grades were tallied for the recently completed first semester of the 2009-10 year, 213 WKU student-athletes are maintaining a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, which represents 52% of WKU’s 412 student athletes. Equally as impressive, 11.4% of student-athletes (47 total) have a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
Each of WKU’s 19 sports has at least one student-athlete with a 3.5 or higher GPA, and more than half of the student-athletes on 14 of WKU’s 19 athletic teams have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
WKU had 112 student-athletes post a first semester grade point average of 3.5 or higher making them eligible for the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s list at the end of the 2009-10 year. An additional 101 student-athletes posted a first semester grade point average between 3.0 and 3.49, which makes them eligible for the Sun Belt Conference Honor’s list recognition at the end of the 2009-10 year. WKU has had more individuals honored by the league academically than any other institution in each of the last five years.
In Fall 2009, 16 softball student-athletes finished with a 3.0 GPA or higher while six finished with a 3.50 or higher. Rachelle Boucher, Kelsey McCauley, Brittney Perry, Shannon Smith, Mallorie Sulaski and Shelby Taylor finished with a 3.50 or higher and Lindsay Antone, Casey Clark, Karavin Dew, Elizabeth Ferrell, Ciara Garcia, Katrina Metoyer, Dana Nathanson, Kim Wagner, Amanda Walden and Sara Williams picked up at least a 3.0.
Nine of WKU’s 19 programs have a cumulative team GPA of 3.0 or higher, and the average GPA for all student-athletes is 2.93. Since Wood Selig was named Director of Athletics in 1999, 85% of WKU student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility have graduated.
