By: by Scott Lipsky
Live Stats
KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State softball will head to Athens, Ga. to play the No. 7-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in a non-conference game on Wednesday evening at the UGA Softball Stadium.
The Owls (15-12) will be meeting the Bulldogs for the first time this season and the fourth time in their history. Scott Whitlock’s club has won two of the first three meetings between the teams. Georgia defeated Kennesaw State, 5-2, last year in Athens.
The Black and Gold are coming off a doubleheader split with Campbell on Friday and have won three of their last five games. They have been led at the plate recently by freshman first baseman Ashlee Burkett, who was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Player-of-the-Week on Monday.
Burkett becomes the first Kennesaw State student-athlete to earn a Player-of-the-Week award this season. The Warner Robins, Ga. native hit .429 for the week with hits in all four games including a pair of home runs. She has hit safely in 14 of her last 16 games, which includes a 10-game hitting streak, the longest on the team so far this season.
The Owls have also benefitted from excellent pitching performances from redshirt sophomore Jessica Cross. Cross, who is currently fourth in the A-Sun with a 1.12 earned run average, went 2-0 last week, shutting out Campbell, 8-0, on Friday, and pitching the Owls to a 6-1 victory at Georgia State on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs (24-6) are coming off a 17-5 win over Kentucky on Sunday in which they scored the fourth most runs in the program’s history. Nine different UGA players had hits including home runs by Megan Wiggins, Jennie Auger and Laura Trout. Offensively, they are led by catcher Kristyn Sandberg and outfielder Taylor Schlopy, who currently rank seventh and ninth in the SEC in batting average at .426 and .411, respectively.
Georgia will be playing their second A-Sun team this season. The Bulldogs defeated Belmont, 10-0, on Mar. 5 in Athens as Sarah McCloud and Alison Owen combined on a five inning, no-hitter.
This will be the only game this season the Owls will play against an SEC opponent. They are 2-2 coming into Wednesday against power-conference opponents, having defeated Seton Hall of the Big East and Minnesota of the Big Ten, and dropping contests to Georgia Tech and Penn State.
First pitch between the Bulldogs and the Owls is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at the UGA Softball Stadium and can be followed with livestats by clicking here
