Live Stats vs. FIU (Friday @6:30 p.m.)
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MIAMI, Fla. – With all but five players back from its 2012 squad, the University of Hartford softball team kicks off its 2013 campaign at the Florida International University Tournament this weekend with hopes to return to the America East Conference tournament for the first time since the 2007 season. The Hawks start their season on Friday with a pair of games against Mercer (11:00 a.m.) and the host-team Panthers (6:30 p.m.) and will then take on Savannah State on Saturday morning (11:00 a.m.).
SCOUTING MERCER | Mercer started off its season hot with a 5-1 record, but has experienced a slump since then, dropping four of its last five contests. All four of those setbacks, which came at the Kennesaw State Tournament, were by two runs or less, with three being decided by a single run. Mercer recently snapped that skid on Wednesday, scoring a 10-9 triumph on the road at Georgia Tech. McKenzie Woody, a junior outfielder, paces the Bears' offense with a .472 batting average with 17 hits and seven stolen bases. Overall, Mercer has had a tendency for the long ball this season as it has belted out 12 homeruns in 10 games, led by four from Molly Garmany and three from Randi Rei. With just three homers conceded by Mercer's defense thus far, Kerri Nidiffer has anchored the defense, boasting a 1.35 ERA in 36.1 innings. She has amassed 13 strikeouts and has allowed 15 runs – seven earned – and enters the weekend with a 2-4 overall record.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH MERCER | Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between Hartford and Mercer. Against current members of the Atlantic Sun, the Hawks are 0-3, suffering two losses to Stetson in 2009 and one loss to USC Upstate in the following season.
SCOUTING FIU | The Panthers most recently swept Morehead State on Sunday to finish 4-0 in the Felsberg Memorial Tournament and improve to 6-5 on the season. FIU, which was benefited from playing on its home field all season, is led by Alex Casals' .381 batting average. A senior outfielder, she has eight hits, four runs and two RBI in nine games. Veteran infielder Brie Rojas also paces the Panthers' offense with five runs and six RBI. Three of her eight hits have gone for extra bases including a pair of doubles and two homers. Four different hurlers have seen action for FIU this season, with Mari Dawson earning starts in six games. In 31.2 innings of work, she has a 3.32 ERA and a 1-3 overall record, striking out a team-best 26 batters. Shel Wagnon has made six appearances inside the circle and enters the weekend with a 1.50 ERA and 3-0 record.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH FIU | Hartford and FIU have met six times prior to this weekend's matchup, with the Panthers winning all six games by an average of six runs per game. It has been 13 years since the last time these two teams squared off as they last met in Miami in the 2000 campaign. FIU took 5-0 and 3-1 decisions in those outings.
SCOUTING SAVANNAH STATE | Savannah State enters the FIU Tournament with a mark of 5-4 and rides a two-game win streak into the weekend. Prior to scoring wins over UNC-Wilmington and Western Carolina, the Lady Tigers had lost its last four, including a pair of shutouts to Florida in Gainesville. Senior Madison Hedderly, the MEAC Softball Preseason Pitcher of the Year, has earned four of her team's five wins and has fanned 24 batters in 34.2 innings of work. She posted an 18-12 record in 2012 and led the Lady Tigers to the regular season MEAC Southern Division title in Savannah State's first year of competition in the conference. The Lady Tigers' lineup features several threats at the plate highlighted by Torrian Wright. A freshman third baseman, Wright has amassed 11 hits in 25 at-bats (.440), including two doubles and three homers, while adding eight RBI and six runs scored to her resume.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH SAVANNAH STATE | In its 28-year, Division I era, Hartford has never played against Savannah State. The Hawks have played seven schools that are current members of the MEAC, and hold a 6-7 record against those squads. The last team that Hartford faced from the MEAC is Bethune-Cookman, an NCAA Tournament Regional team in 2012. The Wildcats swept a pair of games from the Hawks early last season in Daytona in respective 6-2 and 15-0 finals.
NEXT ON TAP | The Hawks will have a week to prepare for their next swing of games which will be played in Rock Hill, S.C., as part of the Winthrop Tournament. The Tournament, which features five games with four opponents over a three-day stretch, starts on Friday, March 1 with a 1:00 p.m. matchup against Virginia. Hartford will also face Monmouth, Furman and UNC-Greensboro at the Winthrop Tournament.
WHATS ON THE MENU | Hawks head coach Diana Consolmagno announced a 56-game schedule for 2013, a slate that is highlighted by a trio of non-conference tournaments and also includes three NCAA regional participants in Iona, Massachusetts and America East Tournament champion Boston University. The Hawks open up their season in the Sunshine State with the FIU Tournament where they are scheduled for five games. Following that tournament, Hartford remains on the road for the Winthrop Tournament and will then return home for its Nutmeg State debut which features doubleheaders at Quinnipiac followed by its home opener against Central Connecticut. Following the Delaware Tournament on Mar. 15-17, America East conference play begins shortly after with a three-game, weekend series in West Hartford against Stony Brook. The top four teams in the conference standings will qualify for the America East Softball Championships, which will be held at the site of the top-seed on May 9-12.
ALL-LEAGUERS | Hartford brings back a pair of America East All-Conference players from the 2012 season in Jordan Haines and Peyton Fisher. Haines, the league's first-team designated player last year, established career-best numbers in nearly every batting statistic as a junior, boasting a .329 on-base percentage while finishing with 12 extra base hits, including 10 doubles, while adding 14 runs and 12 RBI. Peyton Fisher, an all-rookie team selection who was named to the second-team as a utility hitter, batted .264 last season, ranking second on the team, and collected 34 hits in 47 starts.
EXTRA BASES | Jordan Haines and Kate Wacyk, a pair of seniors, led the Hawks last year in extra base hits. Haines collected 12 extra base hits in 2012, collected a team-best 10 doubles while adding one triple and a homer. Wacyk went saw 13 of her 31 hits go for multiple bases and led the team in triples (3) home runs (3) while adding seven two-baggers.
WHATS NEW | The Hawks welcome six new faces to the dugout in 2013 highlighted by Zuzana Kudernatschova and Jenice Aloyo, a pair of junior college transfers. A transfer from Highland Community College, Kudernatschova was an NJCAA All-American First Team pitcher who led all of Division II in innings pitched (236.0), runs (30), earned runs (15) and (342) while amassing 28 wins, the most in the nation. Aloyo comes to Hartford after playing one season at Western Texas College, where she batted .448, going 84-for-194 at the plate while recording 87 runs, 23 RBI and drawing 21 walks. Joining the roster as true freshmen are Erin Okoniewski, an infielder, utility player Sawyer Fried and Elizabeth Batsinelas, a pitcher. Brittany Beebe, a sophomore hurler from Harleysville, Pa., rounds out the new faces on the field for the Hawks in 2013.
POLL POSITION | In a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, the Hartford Hawks were picked to finish sixth among the seven members of the America East Conference. UAlbany and Boston University, the two teams that played for the 2012 America East Softball Championship, are the preseason favorites to finish the 2013 regular season atop the conference standings. The Great Danes and Terriers each received three first-place votes (coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team) and 32 points. Stony Brook, which received one first-place tally, followed in third with 29 points, while Binghamton came in fourth (19 points), one point ahead of Maine (18). Hartford (10) was picked sixth while UMBC (7) rounded out the poll.
