The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
No. 19 Indiana
Akron Softball Looks To Keep Things Rolling At Black and Orange Tournament
February 21 | Softball
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Black and Orange Tournament Game Notes (PDF)
Black and Orange Tournament (Mercer University)
Feb. 22-24
Mercer, Ga.
February 22 vs. Indiana | 11 a.m.
February 22 vs. Mercer | 3:30 p.m.
February 23 vs. Mercer | 2:30 p.m.
February 23 vs. Loyola (Chi.) | 4:45 p.m
February 24 vs. North Carolina A&T | 1:15 p.m.
Game Information
Live Stats:Â GoZips.com
What's Ahead
For the second year in a row, the Akron softball team will travel to Mercer, Ga., to take part in the Mercer Tournament hosted by the Mercer Bears. During the three day tournament (Feb. 22-24), the Zips will square off against Indiana, Mercer, Loyola (Chi.), and North Carolina A&T. First pitch for the Zips at the Mercer tournament is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 22.Â
Scouting the Hoosiers
Indiana, a member of the Big Ten Conference, is off to a fast start in the 2019 softball campaign as the Hoosiers stand a perfect 9-0 and rank 19th in the nation heading into the third weekend of action. Indiana swept its competition at the FAU First Pitch Classic, including a 6-4 win over #6 Georgia, and at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against Duke and Syracuse.
The trio of Camryn Woodall, Taylor Lambert, and Maddie Westmoreland paces the Hoosiers at the place with all three averaging a batting average above .300. Woodall owns a .375 average, six hits, one home run, and three RBI. Lambert, the team's leader in hits (8), runs scored (8), and walks (7), owns a .348 average at the plate. Westmoreland has tallied a team-high 1.033 OPS and total bases (12), along with the third-best average (.333) and second-most RBI (5).Â
Three Hoosiers have picked up wins inside the circle including Tara Trainer (5-0), Emily Goodin (2-0), and Natalie Foor (1-0). Trainer, Indiana's ace on the rubber, has notched a 1.27 ERA, tossed three complete games, and surrendered just six runs on 33 hits in 33.0 innings of work.Â
Scouting the Bears
Tournament host Mercer owns a 3-8 overall record and dropped five straight decisions at the Jaguar Classic in Mobile, Ala. The Bears three victories of 2019 came over Rutgers (2-1), Army (7-5), and Georgia Southern (5-4)
In the batter's box, Allie Jones leads the offense for Mercer with a .382 batting average by way of 13 hits and five runs batted in. Additionally, on the base path, Jones leads the Southern Conference in stolen bases going a perfect 5-for-5.Â
Inside the circle, freshman Lynn Gardner earned all three victories for the Bears. Gardner has appeared in five contests, pitched 32.1 innings, allowed 26 runs (19 earned) on 36 hits. Bailey Pattison owns a staff-low 3.64 ERA but holds a 0-4 record.Â
Scouting the Ramblers
After competing in at the Total Control Sports Invitational and Runnin' Bulldog Softball Tournament, Loyola (Chi.) stands 9-0, including six shutout wins.Â
The Ramblers have three players hitting over .500 (Allyson Ivey, Jessica Shields, Katie Polaski), two players hitting above .400 (Jordyn Cordell, Shannon McGee), and four Ramblers hitting higher than .300 (Abbey Johnson, Brooke Wilson, Nova Sinskul, Katie Kasubke, Madison Ebeling).Â
The duo of Kiley Jones and Keenan Dolezal are a combined 9-0 inside the circle for Loyola. Jones (5-0) has made five starts, tossed three complete games, two shutouts, given up just 15 hits and allowed only six runs, two of which were earned. In 21.2 innings of work, Dolezal owns a team-best 0.42 ERA, allowed just one run while giving up 21 hits. The two combined have struck out 26 batters and walked just 15. Â Â
Scouting the Aggies
After a season-opening doubleheader against Appalachian State, North Carolina A&T sits 0-2 heading into the Black and Orange Tournament. The Aggies fell 15-0 and 12-0 to the Mountaineers.Â
Senior Zadaisha Waddell does it all for the Aggies from both the plate and the circle. Offensively, Waddell is career .334 hitter with eight home runs, 74 RBI and a .462 slugging percentage heading into the 2019 season. When toeing the rubber Waddell has picked up 17 wins with a career 4.03 ERA. She has 94 appearances, 55 starts and has logged 405 innings.Â
Series History
Akron meets BIG 10 opponent Indiana for the eighth time in program history. In the all-time series history, the Zips have defeated the Hoosiers four times in seven games (4-3).Â
Since the first meeting between Akron and Mercer in 1994, the Zips and Bears have met just three times on the diamond. While Akron holds a 2-1 all-time series edge over Mercer, the Bears most recently defeated the Zips 1-5 in last season Black and Orange Tournament.Â
2019 will be the first time that Akron and Chicago (Loyola) meet on the diamond in each program's respective histories.Â
In eight meetings all-time between Akron and North Carolina A&T, the Zips holds the all-time advantage over the Aggies, 6-2, since first competing in 1994.Â
2019 Zips Tidbits
- Eight Zips, including Samantha Malik, Macky Mitchiner, Camryn Michallas, Amaya Smith, Lauren Holdsworth, Morgan Cadmus, Adrian Smith, and Lexie Petrof made their Akron debuts at the Blue Host Invitational.Â
- Five Akron players recorded an OPS of over 1.000 in Akron's first five games, including Sydney Jascoe (1.559), Jessie Holzman (1.115), Kimberly Rodriguez (1.004), and Samantha Malik (1.034).Â
- Sydney Jascoe recorded at least one hit in all five games for the Zips recording a five-game hit streak.Â
- Adrian Smith picked up her first win in her first appearance in an Akron uniform against Morgan State (12-11).Â
- The Zips scored 12 runs in their season opener, which is the most runs scored by an Akron team in a season opener.Â
- For the third time in program history, Akron has ended two games in a draw. No Zips team has finished a season with more than a pair of ties.Â
- In the first five games of the season, Akron stole 18 bases in 22 attempts courtesy of nine different Zips baserunners, including six base runners going a combined 12-for-12.Â
- Adrian Smith struck out a season-high eight batters against Morgan State in her second victory of the season.
- Mikayla Newland and Adrian Smith recorded the Zips first combined shutout of the season (5-0) over the Bears.
- Amaya Smith earned her first collegiate victory inside the circle against George Mason.Â
- Sydney Jascoe recorded three RBI against George Mason which are a career-high in a single-game.Â
- At the Madeira Beach Tournament, Akron recorded 36 hits, eight doubles, two home runs, 20 RBI, scored 36 runs, and went 13-for-17 on stolen bases.Â
- Sydney Jascoe has recorded team-highs in multi-hit games (5), hitting streaks (8 games), multi-RBI games (3), on-base streak (8 games).Â
- Macky Mitchiner is currently on a team-best six-game hitting streak, while Kayla Wulf has the largest active on-base streak at seven games.Â
- The Zips offense has scored a season-high 13 runs in both the third and fourth innings.Â
- Jascoe owns a batting average above .500 when facing a right-hander, with runners on the base path, with bases empty, when leading off an inning, with a runner on third and less than two outs, and when successfully advancing runners.Â
- Laura Lakins is hitting a team-high .833 with runners on the bases and with runners in scoring position, Jessie Holzman owns a team-best .857 average when leading off an inning, and Kimberly Rodriguez has totaled a team-high .833 average when successfully advancing runners.Â
Up Next
After a weekend off of competition, the Akron softball team returns to the diamond to compete at the Morehead State tournament on March 9-10. The Zips are scheduled for three contests, all of which will be against the hosts, Morehead State.
