KSU GAME NOTES | A-SUN WEEKLY NOTES | LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE VIDEO | TICKETS | PROMOTIONS
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State softball team looks to defend its 2012 Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship when the Owls begin the 2013 conference slate with a doubleheader against Mercer at Bailey Park on Wednesday, March 13. First pitch of game one is set for 4 p.m. (ET), with the game two slated to start 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one.
Live stats and audio, along with video via ASun.TV, will be available on KSUOwls.com. Fans can also follow the action by following Kennesaw State softball on Twitter, @KSUOwlsSoftball.
Admission for the doubleheader is $6 for adults and $4 for youth, with Kennesaw State students, faculty and staff receiving free admission with a valid KSU ID.
Free pizza will be provided for the first 200 students, along with a green stadium cup give-away for the first 250 fans.
Kennesaw State (16-3, 0-0) last swept a pair of one-run games at Furman on Wednesday, March 6 as the Owls won the first game, 4-3, before junior
Bianca Durant (Douglasville, Ga./Chapel Hill HS) smacked her first home run of the season in the seventh inning for a 1-0 victory in game two.
Senior
Sharon Swanson (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) posted a .667 batting average against the Paladins after collecting four hits in six at-bats, including a 3-for-4 performance and a two-run home run in game one. It was her team-leading fourth long ball of the season. For the season, Swanson leads the Owls in batting average (.393), hits (24), doubles (five) and RBI (14), and has started all 19 games at designated player for Kennesaw State.
Junior
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) and senior
Abbey Mixon (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) continue to lead the Owls in the circle. Henderson, unbeaten at 9-0 for KSU, owns a 1.14 ERA in 67.2 innings and has registered seven complete games, two saves and a league-leading 87 strikeouts this season. Mixon is 6-2 on the season with an ERA of 1.77 in 47.1 innings. The senior has four complete games and 54 strikeouts in 2013.
Mercer (14-12, 3-0) opened league play last weekend, earning a three-game sweep of East Tennessee State. The 3-0 mark is the team’s best start in conference since 2009. While Mercer has played 26 games this season, the Bears have only played one true road game, a 10-9 win at Georgia Tech on Feb. 20.
McKenzie Woody, a Preseason A-Sun All-Conference team honoree, leads the Bears with a .426 batting average. She has notched 40 hits and has plated 22 runs, while owning an 11-of-16 mark in stolen bases. Julia Rice and Kerri Nidiffer have carried much of the load for the Bears in the circle, as the pair has combined to throw for 155.2 innings out of a total of 178.0 innings. Rice has tallied a team-leading 3.05 ERA and is 7-4 on the season, while Nidiffer has an ERA of 3.07 and is 7-7.
Kennesaw State next travels to Nashville, Tenn., to face Lipscomb in the Owls’ first conference road series on Saturday and Sunday, March 16-17. KSU and LU will first play a doubleheader on Saturday, followed by a single game on Sunday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. (ET) for both days.
Keep up with Owls softball this year by following KSU on Twitter at @
KSUOwlNation and @
KSUOwlsSoftball, or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on
Facebook.
Kennesaw State is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
