Houston Christian University heads to Conway, South Carolina for the Beach Chicken Brawl starting on Friday morning. The Huskies will play five games over three days (March 10-12) in the tournament hosted by Coastal Carolina University at St. John Stadium.
Mary-Ellen Hall's Huskies, now 9-10 overall, have lost six of seven following an 8-3 start to the campaign. The Blue and Orange dropped three of four at the Louisiana Tech Tournament last weekend, including a pair of tough one-run defeats on Sunday.
AB Garcia continues to drive the offense for the Huskies. She has hit safely in six straight games, and posts a .407 batting average and .426 on-base percentage to go along with 10 stolen bases.
Haylie Savage is batting .328 and slugging .528 with a team-high three homers. She is currently tied with
Kaicey Hagler for the team lead in RBI with 14.
Jasie Roberts and
Autumn Sydlik each have nine RBI, while
Avery Drake is 6-7 in stolen bases.
Katy Janes had a solid weekend in the circle for the ladies. Now 4-3 on the season, she lowered her team-best ERA to 1.82, scattering eight hits and one run over 10 innings pitched in two outings.
Four scoreless innings in relief earned Janes the W in Saturday's 8-5 victory over UMass-Lowell. She then lost a pitcher's duel on Sunday, going six strong with four K's in the 1-0 loss to La Tech.
The Huskies will be playing all three of their Beach Chicken Brawl opponents for the first time ever.
NOTE (March 10): Weather forced a change to the overall schedule in the three-day tournament just northwest of Myrtle Beach. HCU still begins play on Friday versus Canisius University, with the game now beginning at 1 pm. HCU will take on Ohio State and host Coastal Carolina on Saturday at 9 am and 2 pm, then play twice more on Sunday against Canisius and CCU at 8:30 am and 11 am. The schedule page has all new times posted.
CANISIUS UNIVERSITY (Buffalo, New York):
Canisius, hailing from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), is led by ninth-year head coach Kim Griffin.
The Golden Griffins come into the weekend with a 7-5 record, with all 12 games thus far having been played in the Carolinas.
Sophomore infielder Saige Alfaro paces CU with a .378 average at the plate, while junior outfielder Christie McGee-Ross bats .333 and has a team-best 12 stolen bases.
Junior Megan Giese headlines the Griffs pitching staff with 31 K in 31.2 IP and a 3-3 record.
COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY (Conway, South Carolina):
Head Coach Kelley Green is now in her 14th season at the helm of Coastal Carolina, a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The Chants have won four straight games, all by shutout. Now 19-3 overall. CCU has played 16 of its first 22 games at home.
The team boasts six players with three or more home runs, including sophomore catcher Maddy Jennings with seven, which is good for 16th in the NCAA. As a team, CCU is 10th in the nation with 1.33 homers per game, and 36th overall in scoring at 5.95 runs per game.
Diamond Williams, a senior first baseman, ignites the Chants offense, batting .375 with five homers, 24 RBI and five stolen bases.
Senior right-hander Raelee Brabham is off to a torrid start to lead the hurlers. She is now 8-1 overall with a 1.69 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 77 K's in 49.2 innings.
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY (Columbus, Ohio):
OSU is 6-6 thus far and this weekend's Brawl begins a span of 10 straight days of play in South Carolina. Kelly Kovach Schoenly is now in her 11th season in charge of the Big Ten's Buckeyes.
Sophomore infielder Kami Kortokrax tops the OSU hitters with a .361 average and sophomore outfielder Melina Wilkison checks in with a .359 average, one homer and nine RBI.
In the circle, junior Alison Smith is the top hurler with a 3-3 record, 3.50 ERA and 41K thru 36 IP.
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Upon completion of the Beach Chicken Brawl, the Huskies will set their sights on Southland Conference play, which will begin with a three-game weekend set on March 16/17 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
