By Brian Roe, Sports Writer
The Wildcats take their show on the road this weekend competing in a Lone Star Conference South Division series against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The four-game series begins today at 5 p.m. on Kingsville’s Hubert Field.
ACU owns a 10-20 overall record and has dropped 10 of its last 11 games. The Lady Javelinas, in contrast, have a 21-13 overall record so far in 2004.
“They are a solid all-around team,” said head softball coach Chantiel Wilson. “They have solid hitting and really good pitching.”
The Lady Javelinas rank third in the Lone Star Conference with a team earned run average of 2.06. ACU ranks next-to-last in the LSC with a team ERA of 3.77.
Wilson said the team has focused on playing better defense and scoring more runs to help assist the pitching woes.
“Generally there are not a lot of runs scored in softball,” Wilson said. “For example we lost a game last week 11-8. Usually when you score eight runs you win.
The pitching woes continue to haunt the Wildcats as junior pitcher Lacey Beaston is questionable for this weekend with a shoulder injury.
Junior first baseman Katie Bryan said the team tried a new drill in practice to help increase its focus on the importance of defense and helping the pitcher.
“We play this game called 21 outs,” Bryan said. “There are 21 outs in every softball game so the point of the drill is to record 21 consecutive outs. If anyone makes an error, then we start back over at zero.”
Bryan may be working on her defensive game, but her offensive output seems to be working just fine. Last weekend, Bryan became ACU’s all-time leader in home runs with 15.
Bryan is also second on the all-time list in RBI with 100. Theressa Johnson owns the school record with 108.
“Honestly I didn’t even know about the records and all until after the game someone told me,” Bryan said.
Records aside, Bryan said the team is focused on playing hard and winning games.
“We have been playing to the best of our ability and want to continue to do that,” Bryan said. “We have to score more runs and minimize errors on the field. We just have to go out and play with high intensity.”
