Bowling Green, Ky. - The Lady Toppers (26-25, 7-14 SBC) hit the road for their final three road games of the 2011 regular season, with a single SBC contest against Middle Tennessee (17-29, 7-14 SBC) Wednesday at 6 p.m. Thursday the Lady Toppers will play a non-conference doubleheader at Murray State (20-24), game times of 3 and 5 p.m.
The Lady Toppers are currently tied for the seventh place position in the Sun Belt Conference standings with Middle Tennessee. A win Wednesday would put the Lady Toppers in the SBC tournament to be played next week. WKU will finish the series with MTSU Saturday at the WKU Softball Complex for their final home games of the 2011 season.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Wednesday's game will be the 34th road game for the Lady Toppers this season. Familiar with road games, WKU has a record of 4-17 at away games and 11-1 in neutral site games, for an overall record of 15-18 on the road this season. Historically, the Lady Toppers have an overall road record of 191-195 in 11 seasons. Under head coach Tyra Perry the Lady Toppers are 64-61 on the road and 6-8 on the road in May. During the month of May WKU has gone 14-21 on the road. Last season, the Lady Toppers finished with a road record of 17-16.
LAST OUTING: The Lady Toppers suffered a tough three-game loss on the road against conference leader and No. 24 Louisiana-Lafayette. Opening with a close battle with a 3-2 loss and falling 10-2 and 10-0 in the last two contests. Sophomore Mallorie Sulaski led with three hits, two of them doubles for one run. Sophomore Karavin Dew tallied three hits with one run and one RBI. Freshman Kelsie Mattox had two doubles for two runs. WKU tallied six doubles on the weekend and a season-high five doubles in the series opener.
SCOUTING MTSU: The Blue Raiders return seven starters to their 2011 squad. The team returns two pitchers and 13 letterwinners while welcoming six newcomers to the team. Middle Tennessee finished their 2010 season with an overall record of 22-32 going 7-17 in the Sun Belt Conference for eighth place. This season the Blue Raiders have recorded an overall record of 17-29 with a SBC record of 7-14. Going into the first game of the series, WKU and Middle Tennessee are currently tied for the seventh place position in the conference standings. Middle Tennessee is 13-7 at the Blue Raider field this season. As a team MTSU is posting a .255 batting average, being out-hit by opponents 403-298. Leading MTSU in hitting is senior Corrie Abel with a .381 batting average with 19 runs off 53 hits with 14 doubles and four home runs for 26 RBI. The Blue Raider pitching staff has a combined 5.02 ERA. Leading the pitchers is freshman Jordy Fisherback with a 4.43 ERA and a record of 7-8 in 104.1 innings striking out 71 batters with an opponent batting average of .304.
WKU-MTSU REWIND: The Lady Toppers have faced the Blue Raiders 40 times in program history with an overall record of 19-21. WKU is 6-8 at Blue Raider field and 11-11 at the WKU Softball Complex against MTSU. The two teams have met four times in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, with a 2-2 record in the tournament against MTSU. Last season the Lady Toppers dropped two games to the Blue Raiders on the road.
SUN BELT ACTION: Wednesday's contest will be the 22nd Sun Belt Conference game for the Lady Toppers this season and the 13th on the road. WKU is 7-14 in SBC action this season and 1-11 in SBC games on the road. Under head coach Tyra Perry the Lady Toppers are 34-45 in SBC play and 16-31 in SBC away games.
SCOUTING MURRAY STATE: Murray State returns three pitchers from its inaugural season of softball. The Racers finished their first season of softball with an overall record of 22-29 and 11-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference for fifth place. Murray State currently has an overall record of 20-24 and 11-14 in the OVC. The Racers are 9-6 in home games and 9-12 on the road. The team boasts a .282 batting average being out-hit by opponents 351-317. Leading the Racers in batting this season is senior Lauren Buch with a .420 batting average, second on the team in home runs with 13 she has 50 hits, 45 runs and 48 RBI. The Racers pitching staff has a combined 5.52 ERA with an overall opponent batting average of .305. Leading the Racers in pitching is sophomore Shelby Kosmecki with a 4.59 ERA and a record of 9-5 in 103.2 innings of work, striking out 84 batters with an opponent batting average of .287.
WKU-MURRAY STATE REWIND: The Lady Toppers have faced the Racers one time in program history. Last season was the first and only time the two teams have faced each other. The game was held at the WKU Softball Complex with WKU winning in a 10-inning battle 4-3. This will be the first time the Lady Toppers will face Murray State on the road.
NON-CONFERENCE ACTION: Thursday's game will be the 30th non-conference game for the Lady Toppers this season. WKU is 19-11 in non-conference action and 3-6 in non-conference away games. Under head coach Tyra Perry the Lady Toppers are 22-17 in non-conference away games.
LEADERS OF THE PACK: Sophomore catcher, Karavin Dew, is tied for first in the Sun Belt Conference in triples with five on the season. Dew also shares the lead on WKU's all-time season triples record. Dew leads the team in hitting this season with a .385 batting average with 18 runs off 40 hits for 15 RBI. Sophomore Katrina Metoyer is second with a .326 batting average with 23 runs off 45 hits and 19 RBI. Freshman short stop Amanda Thomas leads the team in hits with 46 and second in home runs with six, boasting a .309 batting average. Thomas also leads the Sun Belt Conference in assists with 152 assists. Freshman second base Kelsie Mattox has a .301 batting average leading the team in runs with 31, RBI with 28 and home runs with seven. Mattox tallied a grand slam at the WKU Softball Complex in the 7-2 victory over SIUE March 8. Sophomore Mallorie Sulaski leads pitchers with a 2.50 ERA pitching 140.0 innings, striking out 67 batters. Sulaski is 11-9 in the circle on the season while posting a .268 batting average.
LIVE STATS: To follow the Lady Toppers go to www.WKUsports.com and click on the live stats link on the schedule page.
WEBSTREAMING: The final webstreamed game this season will be the 1 p.m. game against Middle Tennessee Saturday. Play-by-play will be provided by Jeremy Brown. Fans can sign up for webstreaming content by going to www.WKUsports.com.
