Deluge delays Tuskegee, Spring Hill softball series until Sunday
TUSKEGEE, Ala. (goldentigersports.com) — Two of the top teams in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) are set for a three-game series beginning Sunday, as West Division leader Spring Hill College visits the team trailing by just one game in the standings – Tuskegee University. The series was originally scheduled to begin Saturday, but has pushed back a day due to the amount of rainfall over the last 24 hours.
The two teams have not met since last year in the regular season, but both left their mark on the rest of the conference just two weeks ago when they went through the SIAC Crossover as the only two teams not to drop a game.
And if you look at the SIAC statistics, both teams are listed at or near the top in most of the categories. They are each listed in the top five in eight of the major categories in the conference, including ranked as the top two in sacrifice bunts.
Tuskegee (10-22, 8-1 SIAC) has not played a conference game since the Crossover, as their last scheduled series against Kentucky State was rained out and moved to late April. Since the SIAC Crossover, the Lady Golden Tigers have split a pair of games each with West Georgia and Alabama A&M in Tuskegee.
Meanwhile, Spring Hill (24-12, 12-0 SIAC) has not played a conference game since the SIAC Crossover as their series with Miles was rained out last weekend. However, they played a doubleheader with the University of Mobile, splitting a pair of games this past week.
Sharde Thomas continues to lead the Lady Golden Tigers in hitting and is at, or near the top, in several categories in the conference. According to the NCAA minimums, Thomas leads the conference in hitting at .458, leads the conference in on-base percentage at .513, is fifth in slugging (.556) and is tied for sixth in stolen bases. Meanwhile, teammate Cari Driver leads the conference in sacrifice bunts with eight, while teammate Haley Plato is tied for third in the same category. Chante Warner is currently tied for second in the conference in sacrifice flies.
On the mound, Kaylin Finch has a 4.77 earned run average as a freshman and is seventh in the conference in strikeouts. She has made 12 appearances on the mound, placing her ninth, and she is tied for seventh in starts with 11.
The series between Tuskegee and Spring Hill will be played the same time the other two teams playing for seeding in the West Division – Stillman and Miles – are facing each other in a big weekend in West Division play.
The two-time defending SIAC champions and Spring Hill get started at 1 pm with a doubleheader on Sunday, with a single game set for Monday beginning at 10 am due to the amount of rainfall over the last 24 hours.
