Softball takes on Memphis in Sherwood
FAYETTEVILLE – For the fifth consecutive season, the University of Arkansas softball team will travel to Sherwood, Ark., for a midweek contest, a Wednesday matchup with Memphis.
The game will take place at the Sherwood Sports Complex with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The Razorbacks are 7-0 in games played in Sherwood.
"Memphis is pretty much where we are record wise," Arkansas coach Mike Larabee said. "They have outstanding pitching; there ERA is just a little bit below two right now so we are definitely going to have our work cut out for us. Being they are from a smaller conference, we are going to have a target on our back. From what everyone has told me, there has always been great attendance at this game in Sherwood, so it should be a great game and hopefully we can get the monkey off our back and get a W."
Arkansas (24-21) is looking to return to the win column after falling in a three-game series to No. 13/15 LSU over the weekend. The Razorbacks are batting .252 as a team led all season by senior outfielder Jessica Bachkora who carries a .381 batting average. Bachkora leads the team with 56 hits, 16 doubles and 13 home runs. Layne McGuirt is second on the team with a .333 average. The junior went 4-for-10 (.400) with two doubles against LSU.
In the circle, Hope McLemore and McGuirt have been Arkansas’ No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers, respectively. McLemore is 12-9 on the season with a 2.76 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 129.1 innings pitched. She has appeared in 28 games with 20 starts. McGuirt is 7-8 with a 3.15 ERA. She has worked more inning s this season (86.2) than she worked in her freshman and sophomore seasons combined.
Memphis comes into the week with a 23-19 overall record and a 7-10 mark in Conference USA action. The Tigers are coming off a weekend series where they took one of three games from Southern Mississippi at home.Wednesday’s game will mark the first meeting between Arkansas and Memphis. The Razorbacks are 23-16 all-time against members of Conference USA.
Offensively, the Tigers are led by third baseman Maddie McKinley. The junior has started in all 42 games this season and has a .300 batting average with 39 hits, 23 runs scored and 21 RBIs. McKinley is also 19-of-20 in stolen base attempts this season. Senior outfielder Leigh Rowan leads the team with five home runs and is second with 20 RBIs. Memphis is batting .221 as a team with 22 home runs and 56 stolen bases.
In the circle, freshman right-hander Carly Hummel leads the pitching staff with a 1.65 ERA in 144.0 innings pitched. Hummel has a record of 13-8 with 184 strikeouts. Senior right-hander Vanessa Walle holds a team best 1.40 ERA and an 8-8 mark in 94.2 innings pitched. As a staff, Memphis has a 1.68 ERA with 286 strikeouts and is limiting opposing batters to a .182 average.
The Razorbacks have played a game in Central Arkansas every season since 2006.
Wednesday night’s games will be broadcast on KXUA Fayetteville (88.3 FM) and ArkansasRazorbacks.com, which will also carry live stats for the Memphis game.
Download: 4-21 Memphis.pdf
