Thorobredettes, Lady Golden Tigers conclude SIAC season this weekend in Tuskegee
TUSKEGEE, Ala. (goldentigersports.com) — Just three days after closing out the top seed in the SIAC West Division, the two-time defending Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) champion Tuskegee University Lady Golden Tigers softball team will close out the regular season with a three-game series with the team they beat for the title last year – Kentucky State University.
First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 1 pm in the opening doubleheader, with the program honoring its nine seniors between games. The series concludes with a single on Sunday at 12 noon.
Tuskegee (18-28, 16-5 SIAC) and Kentucky State have not met since last season’s SIAC Championship series. After the Thorobrettes knocked Tuskegee into the losers bracket, Tuskegee came back through the bracket to reach the championship series need to defeat Kentucky State twice – which is what they did to capture the title as they played three games on the final day.
The two teams met three other times last season with Kentucky State winning all three regular season meetings, while Tuskegee shutout out the Thorobrettes in the two meetings during the 2014 season.
This season, the Lady Golden Tigers have won 16 games in the SIAC and have recorded a 5-1 record with the two other teams who have qualified for the SIAC Championships later this month. Tuskegee enters the contest having won eight of their last nine games, with their only loss coming Tuesday on the road at Miles in walk-off fashion.
Since turning to conference play, the Lady Golden Tigers are hitting .367 as a team – 86 points highers than their overall percentage. They have scored 156 runs and have 55 extra-base hits to go along with 23 (of 30) stolen bases during conference. They have also done it on the mound, recording a 2.92 earned run average in conference games, with 67 strikeouts and only 26 walks.
Tuskegee will honor its nine seniors prior to the second game on Saturday, with those nine seniors being an instrumental part of their championship run – Morgan Burrell, Angel Crawford, Cari Driver, Adrienne Eaddy, Karisa Foye, Haley Plato, Kenyah Smith, Chante Warner and Shamiah Wright.
Although the nine seniors are being honored Saturday, a pair of freshmen are leading the way heading into the final weekend of play.
Sharde Thomas leads all hitters in the conference with a .492 average, which is good enough for 15th in the country. She has one homerun, 14 runs batted in12 stolen bases. In conference play, Thomas is hitting .521 in 20 games with nine extra base hits and six stolen bases.
Kaylin Finch is second on the team in hitting with a .402 average. She is also tied for the team lead in homeruns with eight (with Jamaica Williams) and leads the team with 34 runs batted in. In conference play, Finch is hitting .516 with six homeruns and 25 runs batted in. The freshman is also doing it on the mound this season, recording a 10-10 mark (9-3, 1.73 ERA in conference play) with a 3.43 earned run average.
Warner and Smith, a pair of seniors, are also near the top in hitting as they are at .324 and .317 respectively. Freshman Roneshia Rudolph is near .300 late in the season, as she is hitting .289 with eight extra-base hits.
