Arkansas welcomes Western Illinois to Lady'Back Yard

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas softball team welcomes Western Illinois for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. at Lady’Back Yard, March 14.

The Lady Razorbacks (10-17, 0-3 SEC) end their 12-game home stretch Wednesday and look to get back on track against the Westerwinds (3-11) after a disappointing opening Southeastern Conference series.

“It will be good to step out of conference play and try to correct what went wrong this past weekend,” said head coach Jamie Pinkerton. “Coming off of the South Carolina series we didn’t swing the bats well. I really want to stress this week to work on pitch selection, discipline at the plate and swinging at good pitches.”

While Arkansas comes in after losing its last three games, Western Illinois enters the contest on a nine-game losing streak, dropping its last two games against Tulsa Tuesday.

The Lady’Backs and the Westerwinds meet for the first time at Lady’Back Yard as freshman Teighynne Hulsey tries to pick up her third win of the season.

“We have to take a solid look at the pitching rotation,” said Pinkerton. “Teighynne is getting stronger both offensively and on the mound and she will throw one of the games tomorrow. It will be interesting to give her some starts and see how she does. She brings something different to the table being a lefty and does a good job of hitting spots and working ahead in the count.”

Hulsey earned her second win of the year against North Texas last Tuesday and struck out a career-high eight batters against South Carolina Saturday. She had a team-best 0.60 ERA for the week, allowing just one earned run. Hulsey also had a team-high .400 batting average.

Western Illinois is led by senior Jennifer Garcia who has started all 14 games and has a .364 batting average with 16 hits, 17 total bases and a .404 on-base percentage.

Freshman Jessica Bachkora continues to lead the Lady’Backs with a .369 batting average, .398 on-base percentage and a team-high 31 hits and 13 stolen bases.

For more information about Arkansas softball, please log on to LADYBACKS.COM.