Juan DeLeon

SB: Huskies head to Nacogdoches for three-game series with Jacks

3/28/2025 11:23:00 AM

One-game difference between two schools in revamped weekend schedule

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🚨 SCHEDULE UPDATE: ONE GAME ON SATURDAY EVENING ... DOUBLEHEADER MOVED TO SUNDAY 🥎

Southland Conference Series 4 – HCU (12-17 / 5-4 SLC) at Stephen F. Austin State (14-18 / 4-5 SLC)

SFA Softball Field – Nacogdoches, Texas
🗒️ GAME NOTES

Saturday – March 29, 2025 (6:30 pm)

            📈 LIVE STATS
            📺 ESPN+ (Gm 1)
            📺 ESPN+ (Gm 2)

Sunday – March 30, 2025 (DH - 11 and 1:30 pm)

            📈 LIVE STATS
            📺 ESPN+

Houston Christian University returns to conference play, heading to Nacogdoches for a three-game series with Stephen F. Austin State University over the weekend. Originally slated for Friday and Saturday, the series was shifted to Saturday and Sunday amidst on-going weather concerns. All three games will be played at SFA Softball Field.

HCU stepped out of conference play on Tuesday evening, walking off cross-town foe Texas Southern 3-2 at Husky Field. Maddy Bailey smashed the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the seventh for a double to right center, driving in Haylie Savage with the game-winning run.

The Huskies held a 2-0 lead heading to the fifth, but TSU rallied with a pair of runs in that inning to knot things up. In the seventh, HCU wasted little time, needing just seven pitches to push the winning run across the dish. Savage coaxed a one-out walk before Bailey sent everyone home happy. Leah Hammack went the distance to pick up her fifth victory of the season, tying her with fellow frosh Cara Pitman for the team lead. Keely Castillo went 2-3 with a triple and an RBI, Jaycee Foor went 2-3 and Hanna York added a hit, walk and RBI.

HCU fell to 5-4 in conference action last weekend, dropping two of three at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Cara Pitman tossed a gem in the series opener, allowing just two hits and fanning four to claim her second shutout of the season in a a 3-0 victory. HCU got all its runs in the first frame on an RBI single from Karlie Barba and a two-run double by Keely Castillo.

After cranking out 13 hits in the first game, the bats went silent for the most part in game two. HCU managed just four hits in the second game and four second-inning miscues led to a four-run frame for the Islanders in a 7-0 loss that evened the series.

In the Saturday finale, the Islanders jumped on the board with two runs in each of their first two at-bats, forcing the Huskies to play catch-up. HCU got two back in the fifth on a two-run triple Maddy Bailey but left the bases loaded in the sixth inning in their final attempt at a rally. Ella Herrewig and Heidi Maytum each had two hits for HCU in the loss.

HCU's offense is led by table-setter AB Garcia, who is fourth in the NCAA in batting average and 11th in the nation in hits. She leads the Huskies in batting average, hits, runs scored, triples, total bases and stolen bases, and ranks first in the Southland in batting average and hits, second in on-base percentage, fifth in OPS and runs scored.

The junior centerfielder from Cypress, Texas now sits in second place all-time at HCU in stolen bases with 46. She had her career-high 14-game hitting streak snapped in the win over TSU on Tuesday.

Haylie Savage continues to chase several career leaderboards. She has a team-best 27 RBI on the year, second in the SLC. She has moved into sixth place all-time with 116 as one of just 10 players in school history to hit the century mark. The senior third baseman from Angleton, Texas now is one of just nine players in school history to have 20 dingers over their career after her bomb at UTA on Tuesday, her second of the season. She is currently batting .360 and ranks ninth in the league in batting average and sixth in slugging and seventh in OPS.

The three-time All-SLC selection has seven multi-hit games and ten multi-RBI games, which leads the club. She has moved into ninth in career at-bats, and is just outside the top 10 in games played, walks and run scored.

Ella Herrewig is third on the club in batting at .344 and second in runs scored and stolen bases. Maddy Bailey has extended her hitting streak to 11 games and is now batting .338 on the season with 13 RBI, third-best on the club despite missing eight games. Hanna York is second on the team in RBI with 13.

The young pitching staff has two freshmen leading the team in victories as Cara Pitman and Leah Hammack each have five. Hammack leads the club in innings pitched and strikeouts, while Pitman paces the club in complete games, shutouts and has the team's lone save.

HCU faces Stephen F. Austin State University, who are in their first season back in the Southland after spending the past three campaigns in the WAC. Jeff Jackson is in his second season at the helm for SFA and has the team at 14-18 overall after falling 11-3 at #1-ranked Texas on Tuesday.

SFA comes into the weekend one game behind HCU in the Southland standings at 4-5 overall. Saturday's opening game will be the 50th all-time matchup between the two schools, with SFA leading the all-times series 32-17. The Huskies have won four of the last six meetings, including a sweep of last year's three-game set in which HCU held the Jacks scoreless.

The Lumberjacks are led in the batter's box by Kaylee Paul, a sophomore outfielder who bats .405 with 15 RBI. Senior second baseman Ellie Vance hits .366 with 14 RBI and a team-best 12 stolen bases, while Kyi'Marri Ester leads the club in homers (2) and RBI (21). In the circle, the Jacks have had four different hurlers make six starts, including freshman right-hander Reagan Hall, who leads the team with 57 innings pitched and 35 strikeouts. Senior southpaw Alexis Telford and junior righty Jordyn Ages lead the club with four wins each.

Following the weekend series with SFA, a tough stretch of conference action looms. The Huskies will host longtime rival University of the Incarnate Word in a three-game series starting April 4 before hitting the road to Thibodaux, Louisiana for a three-game mid-week series at Nicholls. HCU then comes back to Husky Field for a three-game series with McNeese on April 11, which finishes up the run of nine Southland Conference games in nine days.

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One-game difference between two schools in revamped weekend schedule

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