DR. BOBBIE BAILEY MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT March 3-5 | Bailey Park | Tournament Central Twitter: @KSUOwlsSB

LEADING OFF

• The Owls return to Bailey Park on Friday (March 3) to host the five-team Dr. Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament that runs through Sunday (March 5). The field includes Kennesaw State, Akron, Dartmouth, UAB and UNCG.
• KSU will open tournament action against UNCG at 3 p.m. before taking on Dartmouth at 5:30 p.m.
• Live stats will be at available at www.KSUOwls.com, and all contests involving Kennesaw State will be streamed on ASUN-TV.
• The Owls enter the weekend with a 10-4 record after posting a 3-2 mark during the Interstate 75 Challenge. The Owls split a pair of doubleheaders with Radford (L, 6-10, W, 11-3) and Illinois (W, 5-4 (8), L, 19-1 (5)), and defeated Omaha (9-0).

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  TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
  Friday, March 3
  10 a.m.	UAB vs. UNCG
  12:30 p.m.	UAB vs. Dartmouth
  3 p.m.	UNCG vs. Kennesaw State
  5:30 p.m.	Dartmouth vs. Kennesaw State
  Saturday, March 4
  10 a.m.	UNCG vs. Akron
  12:30 p.m.	UAB vs. Akron
  3 p.m.	Dartmouth vs. Kennesaw State
  5:30 p.m.	UAB vs. Kennesaw State
  Sunday, March 5
  8:30 a.m.	Akron vs. Dartmouth
  11 a.m.	Akron vs. Kennesaw State
  1:30 p.m.	UNCG vs. UAB

THE FIELD

• Akron: The Zips begin the weekend with a 7-7 mark after posting a 2-2 record at the Dolphin Invitational last week. Akron is batting .291 as a team and is led by junior outfielder Ashley Sims, who is batting .422 and has 16 stolen bases
• Series Versus Akron:  The Owls have met two previous times and the series is tied 1-1. The two programs last faced each other in 2010, and KSU posted a 2-0 victory in Kennesaw.
• Dartmouth: The Big Green is currently 0-4-1 after competing Mardi Gras Classic last week. The field included Drake, Louisiana-Lafayette, Bradley, Mississippi Valley State and Maryland. Dartmouth is batting .286 as a team and is led by junior catcher Claire Bird, who is batting .545.
• Series Versus Dartmouth: This weekend will mark the first meeting between the Owls and Big Green.
• UAB: The Blazers enter the weekend 4-10 after falling 5-4 in extra innings to No. 9 Alabama on Tuesday. Madison Millsaps leads UAB with a .289 batting average and .417 slugging percentage.
• Series Versus UAB: UAB and Kennesaw State will meet for the 17th time on Saturday. The Blazers hold a 13-3 lead in the all-time series. UAB recorded 5-1 victory over the Owls the last time the two teams played in 2014.
• UNCG: The Spartans come to Kennesaw with a 7-7 record and has lost three in a row, including a 4-3 setback to Campbell on Wednesday. UNCG is batting .227 as a team and is paced offensively by junior infielder Gabrielle Cubbage, who is batting .279 with a team-leading three home runs and 10 RBIs.
• Series Versus UNCG: The Owls and Spartans have met three previous times and UNCG holds a 2-1 series lead. The two programs last met during the 2014 season and UAB swept a doubleheader by scores of 7-1 and 5-1 in Birmingham.

 SUTTER NAMED ASUN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Senior Courtney Sutter is coming off an impressive weekend that earned her ASUN Conference Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.
• In five games versus Radford, Illinois and Omaha, the Owls' senior batted .700 (7-for-10), with seven runs scored, six extra base hits (two doubles, four home runs), walked six times, collected 12 RBIs and reached base in 13 of 16 plate appearances. She tallied 21 total bases, produced a 2.100 slugging percentage and .813 on-base percentage.
• Sutter hit safely in all five games to extend her hitting streak to 10 games, homered in four of five contests, and recorded an RBI in each game, including three multiple-RBI games. After homering in the opener against Radford on Friday (Feb. 24), Sutter broke open the nightcap with a grand slam in the second inning.

BATTING NOTES

• The Owls are off to a solid start at the ASUN Conference in several offensive categories, including batting average (.342), home runs (18), doubles (25), slugging percentage (.575), extra base hits (46) and total bases (210).
• KSU ranks 10th in the country in slugging percentage and 11th in home runs per game (1.29).
• Senior catcher Courtney Sutter is off to an impressive beginning to the season. She leads the ASUN Conference in home runs (7) and slugging percentage (1.216), is second in batting average (.514) and RBIs (18), and sixth in runs scored (14).
• Sutter ranks third in the country in home runs and fourth in slugging percentage.
• Freshman Olivia Tamewitz has made a big impact in her rookie season as she leads the ASUN Conference with a .525 average, and is tied for the team lead with five doubles. Tamewitz has also scored 11 runs, homered, collected seven RBIS and stole seven bases.
• Sophomore Hannah Thomason has been an ignitor at the top of the lineup, posting a .313 average, stealing a team-high 11 bases in 11 attempts, and scoring 13 runs. Her stolen base total is second in the ASUN Conference.
• Redshirt freshman Katey Lynch and junior Noelle Winkles rank second in the ASUN Conference with three home runs.
• Winkles recorded her first-career two homer game versus Illinois on Saturday when she went deep in the second inning and clubbed the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth to power the Owls to a 5-4 victory.

PITCHING NOTES

• Senior Logan Viers ranks fourth in the ASUN Conference with a 1.17 ERA while posting a 4-1 record in five starts. She has limited opposing batters to a .181 average.
• Redshirt freshman Alley Cutting ranks fourth in the ASUN Conference with 51 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings, and her strikeout per seven innings mark of 12.1 ranks fourth in the country. She has registered seven or more strikeouts in five of her six starts, including back-to-back games of 11 and 12 versus IUPUI and Connecticut, respectively.

HEAD COACH PETE D'AMOUR

• Head coach Pete D'Amour begins his first season as Kennesaw State head coach after spending the previous 10 seasons at the University of Missouri.
• While at Mizzou, D'Amour helped the Tigers post a 453-154 (.746) record, advance to three Women's College World Series (2009, 2010, 2011), reach eight NCAA Division I Super Regionals, and participate in 10 NCAA Regionals.
• During D'Amour's tenure, Missouri won two Big 12 Conference championships and earned 10 straight Top 20 national rankings.
• Primarily responsible for working with the pitchers and catchers, D'Amour watched Tigers pitcher throw 11 no-hitters, while mentoring 11 All-Americans, two SEC Freshen of the Year, three conference Pitchers of the Year, a national earned-run average leader, and a Defensive Player of the Year.

NEXT UP

• Following this weekend's Dr. Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament, Kennesaw State will travel to Nashville, Tenn., to play a doubleheader at Belmont on Wednesday (March 8). The first game is scheduled for 5 p.m. (ET).

 
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State softball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsSB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
 

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