GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS | PROMOTIONS | TICKETS
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State softball team returns to the friendly confines of Bailey Park for its first series Atlantic Sun Conference series against league newcomer Northern Kentucky on Saturday and Sunday, March 23-24.
Live stats will be available on KSUOwlsl.com. Fans can also follow the action by following Kennesaw State softball on Twitter, @
KSUOwlsSoftball.
Saturday will be Youth Day at Bailey Park, with kids 12 and under receiving free admission to the doubleheader. Temporary Owls tattoos will also be available.
Kennesaw State (20-5, 4-2 Atlantic Sun) is coming off of a 4-2 loss to rival Mercer on Wednesday night in Macon. It was only the fifth loss of the in the final game of the regular season series between the two schools. KSU posted a pair of wins over the Bears earlier in the season to earn the series win.
Junior
Sara Sikes (Douglasville, Ga./Georgia) led the Owls with a three-for-four performance, a run and a stolen base, while senior
Sharon Swanson (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) added her team-leading 20th RBI on a sacrifice fly to right field in the third inning.
Junior
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) continues to lead the Owls in the circle and owns an ERA of 1.20, which ranks second in the A-Sun, in 87.2 innings this season. The junior leads the conference with 115 strikeouts, while her 12 victories also rank in a tie for most wins in the league.
Offensively, Swanson continues to lead the Owls in batting average (.390), runs (13), hits (30), home runs (six) and RBI (20), and has started all 25 games at designated player for Kennesaw State. In the A-Sun, Sikes has been red hot at the plate with a .524 batting average and 11 hits, including three doubles, and six RBI.
Northern Kentucky (6-18, 0-6 A-Sun) is in its first season with the A-Sun and has been swept in both of its conference series against USC Upstate and Mercer this season. Natalie Papi leads the Norse in batting average with a .267 mark and has totaled 16 hits, including a team-leading four home runs, seven runs and 10 RBI. Dee Dee Davis has also added 18 hits and a team-leading 13 RBI for the Norse.
Kelley Benhase and Emily Schwaeble have pitched in 144.1 innings of a possible 158.2 innings this season for the Norse. Benhase (5-8) owns a 3.89 ERA in 72.0 innings and 41 strikeouts to her name. Schwaeble (1-9) has an ERA of 4.45 in 72.1 innings and has tallied 59 strikeouts. Benhase has six complete games, while Schwaeble has four complete games in 2013.
The last time Kennesaw State and Northern Kentucky met was in the elimination game in the 2005 NCAA Division II World Series when KSU defeated NKU 6-0.
Kennesaw State next visits Georgia State in a midweek game on Tuesday, March 26 at 5 p.m., in Atlanta.
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.
