Akron Softball Heads To Sunshine State For Madeira Beach Tournament

Friday, February 14

Madeira Beach, Fla.

4:00 PM

University of Akron

South Dakota

Akron Softball Heads To Sunshine State For Madeira Beach Tournament

February 13 | Softball

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Madeira Beach Tournament Gamenotes (PDF)

Madeira Beach Tournament
Feb. 14-16
Madeira Beach, Fla.

February 14 vs. South Dakota | 4 p.m.
February 14 vs. Mercer | 6:30 p.m.
February 15 vs. Central Arkansas | 4 p.m.
February 15 vs. Georgia State | 6:30 p.m.
February 16 vs. Butler | 9 a.m.

Game Information
Live Stats: GoZips.com
Watch: GoZips.com (Subscription)

What's Ahead
The Akron softball team's season rolls along as tournament plat continues south of the Mason-Dixon line as the Zips travel to Madeira Beach, Fla. to take part in the Madeira Beach Tournament on Feb. 14-16. UA is scheduled for five games over the course of three days against South Dakota, Mercer, Central Arkansas, Georgia State, and Butler.

Scouting the Coyotes
Last weekend, the Coyotes opened their season when they traveled to play at UNI's Doc Halverson Tournament where the went 2-3. They split with host UNI (5-3 and 4-9). They also defeated Murray State (9-8). They also fell to Drake (0-4) and DePaul (4-7).

Early in the season, Jordyn Pender is leading the Coyotes offensively hitting .400, tied for the team lead in hits (6), and is third on the team in RBI's (3). Lauren Eamiguel and Aleesia Sainz lead the team with four RBI's each, while Sainz recorded South Dakota's only home run.

In the circle, the Coyotes pitching staff struggled in its opening weekend of play recording a 5.30 ERA. Sarah Lisko tossed a team-high 15.1 innings, allowed 11 runs on 13 hits and struck out seven. In two starts and four appearances, Holly Fletcher gave up 12 hits, nine runs, and matched Lisko in K's (7).

Scouting the Bears (Mercer)
In the opening weekend of the 2020 season, the Bears hosted the Mercer Invitational. Mercer opened its season with a win against Wright State (10-2) before dropping its next four games against Tennessee Tech (7-10), Dayton (5-9), Tulsa (1-5), and Eastern Kentucky (4-5). On Wednesday, Mercer traveled to Georgia Southern and fell, 3-5.

Micayla Rood leads the Bears offensively batting .526 on 10 hits, three runs scored, and three RBI. Allie Jones is batting .294 with a team-leading five RBI, while Danielle Castleberry leads the team with six runs scored and is hitting .278 in 18 at-bats.

In the circle for the Bears, Bailey Pattison leads the team with a 2.47 ERA, one complete game in 17 innings and three starts. Pattison allowed 17 hits, 10 runs, six earned, walked five and struckout a pitching staff-high nine batters. Amber Bird has appeared in a team-high four contests on the rubber. In 11 innings of action, Bird gave up a team-high 18 hits and three home runs.

Scouting the Bears (Central Arkansas)
Central Arkansas opened its season traveling to Baton Rouge, La., where the Bears fell to #11 LSU, 2-3. The Bears then traveled to New Orleans, La., for the Big Easy Tournament where they went 3-2. Central Arkansas three victories at the tournament all came by way of a shutout as the Bears defeated, Jackson State (8-0), Alabama A&M (4-0), and Louisiana Tech (3-0).

Offensively, the Bears are led by Reagan Sperling who is batting .333 that includes five hits, one double, two RBI, and a team-high four runs scored. Erin Blackburn is batting .308 with three RBI, a team-high, and two runs scored. Kayla Crutchmer leads the team with seven stolen bases, which is more than the rest of the team combined.

In the circle, Kayla Beaver has been lights out. Allowing only just hits, no earned runs, 10 strikeouts and two complete games, Beaver is 2-0 on the year. Despite the 0-2 record, Jordan Johnson has pitched well with a 1.66 ERA, six K's, and holds the opposition to a .200 batting average.

Scouting the Panthers
The Panthers have had a tough schedule to begin their season as Georgia State fell to three top-20 ranked teams in #14 Michigan (1-6), #7 Florida (0-10), and #15 Georgia (1-10). Additionally, the Panthers fell to Fresno State (0-5) and their lone win came against Illinois State (10-2).

Offensively, the Panthers have been led by Sydney Starvo and Olivia Davis. Starvo owns a .417 batting average, scored a team-best four runs, recorded five hits, one double, and one triple. Davis has tallied a team-high .571 average on four hits in seven at-bats. Caitlin Ray has driven in five runs for Georgia St.

In the circle, the Panthers have thrown five pitchers through its first five games. The pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 9.62, given up 49 hits, 33 runs, 14 doubles, and 10 home runs. Sophie Mooney has thrown 12.2 innings and struck out 18 batters.

Scouting the Bulldogs
Butler opened the 2020 season strong at the Rambler Rumbler in Rosemont, Illinois. The Bulldogs beat Green Bay (9-3), Evansville (3-2), Nebraska-Omaha (3-2), and Western Illinois (8-0). Their lone loss against host, Loyola Chicago (3-4).

The Bulldogs are led offensively by Lauren Fey, who is batting an impressive .600 on nine hits, has scored eight runs, and driven in one RBI. Karli Ricketts owns a team-high five RBI and hit two home runs while Bri Avery knocked out five hits, one triple, and scored four runs in 14 at-bats.

Rickets is a dual-threat athlete for Butler going 2-0 inside the circle to go along with her five RBI. Rickets has tossed 12 innings, allowed just six hits, two runs, and has struck out 15 batters to just two walks.

Series History
Against all five teams combined, the Zips are 6-4 against Georgia State (1-0, '13 first meeting), Mercer (2-3, '94 first meeting), South Dakota (1-0, '13 first meeting), and Butler (2-1, '83 first meeting). The contest between Akron and Central Arkansas is the first meeting between the Zips and Bears in program history.

Zips Tidbits

The 2020 season marks the 43rd season of competition for the Akron softball program.
Sydney Jascoe was named to the All-MAC Second Team in 2019 despite playing just 33 games after a season-ending injury during MAC play.
In 2019, Kayla Wulf hit a team-high .563 with runners in scoring position, .471 with runners on the bases, and .635 when successfully advancing runners.
In 2019, Sydney Jascoe owned a team-best .538 average when leading off an inning and owned a team-best .362 average with bases empty.
In 2019, Adrian Smith recorded a team-high 5.71 strikeouts per game and averages a team-best 1.7 K's to walk ratio, while Lexie Petrof averages 10.9 flyouts per outing.
In 2019, Adrian Smith has posted a staff-low 7.91 hits per outing.
In 2019, Kayla Wulf recorded a team-high 12 multi-hit games, Macky Mitchiner garnered 12, and Sydney Jascoe notched 11.
Sydney Jascoe tallied a team-high eight multi-RBI games including six games with two RBI, one game with three RBI, and a career-high five RBI once.
In the opening weekend of the season, Akron scored 35 runs on 50 hits. 27 of the Zips runs came in the fourth inning and after including a weekend-best 11 runs in the sixth inning alone.
Newcomers Bailey Drapola, Jaiden Bryant, Laurel Devoe, Hailey Eckelberry, Tiffany Stevens, Maggie Sons, Shelby Fortune, Alexa DiFeo, and Lauren Frigyes all made their career debuts at the Samford Tournament.
Sydney Jascoe and Bailey Drapola are currently on a five game hit streak, while the pair and Eckelberry are riding a five-game on-base streak.
Nine Zips have tallied a multi-RBI performance, including a season-high three multi-RBI games by Jascoe.
Team Game-Highs: Runs Scored (11, vs. Winthrop), Hits (14, vs. Winthrop), RBI (10, vs. Winthrop), Doubles (3, vs. Winthrop), HR (3, vs. Winthrop), Total Bases (26, vs. Winthrop), Walks (5, vs. Winthrop).
Individual Game-Highs: Runs Scored (3, Jascoe/Wulf), Hits (3, multiple), RBI (3, Jascoe/Bryant), Doubles (1, multiple), HR (1, vs. multiple), Total Bases (7, Wulf), Walks (2, Jascoe/Wulf/Holzman).
Season Averages: Hits/G (10.0), Doubles/G (2.0), HR/G (1.4), BB/G (3.0), RBI/G (6.6), Runs/G (7.0).

Blazing Start
Junior Kayla Wulf got the 2020 season off to a blazing start as the Zips catcher was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Week after the opening weekend of play. It was the POTW accolade of Wulf's career.

Wulf recorded a slash line of .588/1.000/.667. In 17 at-bats, the Wulf posted 10 hits, one double, two home runs, and drew four walks. Wulf contributed to nine runs on the weekend for UA garnering five RBI and six runs scored while also stealing two bases and totaling 17 bases. In three straight games, Wulf recorded a three-hit performance going a combined 9-for-11 with four RBI, two home runs and a double. In the field, Wulf registered 19 putouts and three assists.

Hello Offense
In its first five games of the 2020 campaign, the Akron offense scored 35 runs on 50 hits. Four players ended the weekend with a batting average above .300, including Kayla Wulf (.588), Bailey Drapola (.450), Sydney Jascoe (.412), Jaiden Bryant (.333), Jessie Holzman (.313), and Macky Mitchiner (.300).

Wulf led all Zips with 10 hits, while Drapola, in her first college action, recorded nine hits, and Jasoce, the Zips top hitter in 2019, knocked out seven hits. On the weekend, seven Zips recorded at least one multi-hit performance in Alabama including a team-high three multi-hit games by Wulf and Drapola. The trio of Jascoe, Drapola, and freshman Hailey Eckelberry (Medina, Ohio) reached base safely in all five contests.

In the final three games of the opening weekend alone, the Zips garnered 28 runs on 34 hits.

Long Ball
Akron tallied seven home runs in its first weekend of competition off the bat of four different Zips, Sydney Jascoe, Bailey Drapola, Kayla Wulf, and Laurel Devoe. Jascoe is the Mid-American Conference leader in home runs with three while Drapola and Devoe recorded their first collegiate home runs.

A year ago, Akron did not record its seventh home run of the season until the 12th game of the season.

Debut Weekend
Newcomers Bailey Drapola, Jaiden Bryant, Laurel Devoe, Hailey Eckelberry, Tiffany Stevens, Maggie Sons, Shelby Fortune, Alexa DiFeo, and Lauren Frigyes all made their career debuts at the Samford Tournament.

On the weekend, the Zips newcomers garnered a combined 21 hits, 14 runs scored, three doubles, two home runs, and 13 RBI. Inside the circle, Frigyes and DiFeo pitched 7.2 innings and struck out a pair.

Up Next
Akron continues its tour around the southern states as the Zips head to Mercer, Ga. to take part in the 2020 Mercer Tournament on Feb. 21-23. Akron is scheduled for five contests over the course of three days including two games against Bryant (Feb. 21, Feb. 23), Mercer (Feb. 21), Presbyterian College (Feb. 22), and Georgia State (Feb. 22).