Akron Softball Continues Tournament Play At Mercer

Friday, February 21

Mercer, Ga.

10:00 AM

University of Akron

Bryant

Akron Softball Continues Tournament Play At Mercer

February 20 | Softball

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Mercer Tournament Gamenotes (PDF)

Mercer Tournament
Feb. 21-23
Mercer, Ga.

February 21 vs. Mercer | 5:15 p.m.
February 21 vs. Presbyterian College | 7:30 p.m.
February 22 vs. Georgia State | 12:15 p.m.
February 23 vs. Bryant | 9 a.m.

Game Information
Live Stats: GoZips.com

What's Ahead
Weekend number three of the 2020 Akron softball season takes the Zips to Mercer, Ga. to compete in the 2020 Mercer Tournament. The Zips are scheduled for four contests over the course of Feb. 21-23 against Bryant ( Feb. 23), Mercer (Feb. 21), Presbyterian College (Feb. 21), and Georgia State (Feb. 22) all at the at Sikes Field.

Scouting the Bulldogs
Last weekend, Bryant opened its season when the Bulldogs traveled to Tuscon, Ariz., to take part in the 2020 Hillenbrand Invitational. Bryant was swept in its first four contests falling to Long Beach State (0-10), No. 2 Oklahoma (3-8), Northern Iowa (5-13), and No. 4 Arizona (1-3).

As a team, the Bulldogs are hitting .243, recorded 25 hits, nine runs, six doubles, and one home run. Individually, Toni Camarillo is Bryant's top-hitter recording a .333 batting averages, four hits, three runs, and one double. Tiffany Bell matched Camarillo's team-high four hits and scored one run. Eight other Bulldogs have recorded at least one hit in four games.

The duo of Gabrielle Ermish and Sarah McKeveny have each started two games for the Bulldogs. In 10.1 innings of work, Ermish owns a 5.42 ERA, given up 16 hits, nine runs, and struck out five. McKeveny is 0-2 in just five innings of action on the rubber after allowing 11 runs on seven hits, walked 10, and struck out just three.

Scouting the Bears
In the first two weekends of the 2020 season, the Bears competed at the Mercer Invitational and Madeira Beach Tournament. Mercer went 1-4 during its first tournament of the season, also at Sikes Field, before going 3-2 in Flordia at the Madeira Beach Tournament to bring its record to 5-7.

Micayla Rood leads the Bears offensively batting .405 on 17 hits, six runs scored, and eight RBI. Allie Jones is batting .300 with a team-leading eight RBI, while Danielle Castleberry leads the team with 10runs scored and is hitting .359 in 39 at-bats.

In the circle for the Bears, Bailey Pattison owns a 4.24 ERA, four complete games in 38 innings and six starts. Pattison allowed 47 hits, 27 run, 23 earned, walked 10 and struckout a pitching staff-high 20 batters. Amber Bird has appeared in a team-high six contests on the rubber. In 25 innings of action, Bird has given up a 30 hits and four home runs.

Scouting the Blue Hose
Presbyterian College has started off 2020 strong turning in a 6-3 record through its first nine contests. The Blue Host went 3-1 when hosting the Blue Host Invitational before going 3-2 last weekend at the Madeira Beach Tournament. PC is heading into the weekend winning two straight.

The offensive duo of Courtney White and Jaiden Tweed are the strength of the Blue Hose offense combing to record 26 hits. In 24 at-bats, White has tallied a team-high 12 hits and three doubles. Tweed has posted team-highs in hits (14), runs scored (8), and total bases (21). Kiley Kross has driven in a team-best six RBI.

The ace on the rubber for Presbyterian College is Jenna Greene. Greene has won all five games in which she has started. In 39 innings of action, Greene has allowed just four runs on 15 hits, struck out 49, and garnered five complete games.

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 its first weekend of play in #14 Michigan (1-6), #7 Florida (0-10), and #15 Georgia (1-10). Additionally, the Panthers lost four of five games at the Madeira Beach Tournament.

Offensively, the Panthers have been led by Caitlin Ray and Daisey Hess. Ray owns a .357 batting average, scored four runs, recorded a team-best 10 hits, three doubles, and one home run while registering seven RBI. Hess has tallied a .300 batting average on nine hits and two home runs in 30 at-bats.

In the circle, the Panthers have thrown five pitchers through its first five games. The pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 6.53, given up 84 hits, 53 runs, 22 doubles, and 12 home runs. Sophie Mooney's has thrown 25.1 innings and struck out 34 batters.

Series History
The Zips head into the Mercer Tournament with a combined 4-5 record against its upcoming opponents. Akron is a perfect 2-0 against Georgia State after defeating the Panthers last weekend, while UA owns a 2-4 mark against Mercer and 0-1 record against Presbyterian College. The Zips and Bryant will meet on the diamond for the first time in program history.

Mid-American Conference Member
The Zips have been a member of the Mid-American Conference for the past 27 years after joining the league in 1993 from the North Star Conference.

One Of The Nations Best
Heading into the third weekend of softball, redshirt junior Sydney Jascoe has been on fire at the plate hitting nearly every ball that crosses the plate. Jascoe's success at the plate has accumulated to the Zips third baseman ranking tied for No. 1 in the country in home runs (6) and RBI (20). Additionally, Jascoe also ranks second in total bases (36), fifth in home runs per game (0.60), third in RBI/game (2.0), and 12th in slugging percentage (1.091).

Back-To-Back Zips
Two Mid-American Conference Player of the Week awards have been handed out by the league office after the first two weeks of the 2020 season and two Zips have been on the receiving end of the honor. Junior Kayla Wulf was named the first POTW of 2020 and was followed by redshirt junior Sydney Jascoe in the ensuing week.

In week one, Wulf recorded a slash line of .588/1.000/.667. In 17 at-bats, the Wulf posted 10 hits, one double, two home runs, drew four walks, drove in five RBI and scored six runs. Jascoe was just as efficient at the plate in week two posting a .563/1.188/.650 slash line on the strength of nine hits, four walks, one double, three home runs, and totaled nine bases. Jascoe drove in 12 RBI and scored eight runs which accounted for 17 runs on the weekend.

Can't Hold Anything Back
In her final season of collegiate softball, senior Madison Carter is not holding anything back. In the first two weekends, Carter has already set career-highs in numerous offensive categories. Heading into 2020, the Zips outfielder had just seven hits and one RBI in her career. Through 10 games of her senior season, Carter already has 11 hits, six runs scores, four RBI, two doubles, and a triple.

Hello Offense
In its first 10 games of the 2020 campaign, the Akron offense has scored 69 runs on 109 hits. Seven players have posted a batting average above .300, including Sydney Jascoe (.485), Madison Carter (.478), Kayla Wulf (.472), Bailey Drapola (.417), Jaiden Bryant (.333), Jessie Holzman (.333), and Tiffany Stevens (.500).

Wulf leads all Zips with 17 hits while hitting five home runs, driven in 10 RBI, and scored 12 runs. Jascoe owns team-highs in batting average (.485), runs (14), home runs (6), RBI (20), and total bases (16). In her first 10 games with the Zips, Drapola has tallied 15 hits, four doubles, a home run, and four RBI.

Three Zips have recorded double-digit RBI in Jascoe (20), Macky Mitchiner (11), and Wulf (10).

Long Ball
Akron has tallied 18 home runs in its first two weekends of competition off the bat of eight different Zips, including Sydney Jascoe (6), Bailey Drapola (1), Kayla Wulf (5), Laurel Devoe (1), Jessie Holzman (1), Macky Mitchiner (2), Tiffany Stevens (1), and Jaiden Bryant. Jascoe is the Mid-American Conference leader in home runs with six while Drapola, Devoe, Stevens, and Bryant all recorded their first collegiate home runs.

A year ago, Akron did not record its 18th home run of the season until the 18th game of the season on April 2. The Zips are on pace to eclipse the UA's 2019 home run total of 28 before the Akron steps foot on its home field of Lee Jackson Field.

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.
The Zips now stand 4-6 through 10 games and won back-to-back contests for the first time this season. In the second weekend of play, Akron garnered 44 runs on 59 hits as the Zips offense continues to be a very bright spot game in and game out.
Madison Carter went a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate against Georgia State and recorded three hits against Butler, which marks the most hits in back-to-back games in Carters career.
Sydney Jascoe is currently on a 10-game hit streak, while the Jascoe is on a 10-game on-base streak and Eckelberry is riding an eight-game on-base streak.
Nine Zips have tallied a multi-RBI performance, including a season-high five multi-RBI games by Jascoe.
Akron has scored a season-high 24 runs in the sixth inning and a combined 55 runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.
Situational Hitting Team-Highs: with runners on (Jascoe, .565), with bases empty (Wulf, .556), with runners in scoring position (Carter, .625), with two outs (Jascoe, .600), two-out RBI (Jascoe, 6).
Situational Pitchinf Team-Bests: hits/game (Frigyes, 4.74), runs/game (Frigyes, 6.10), walks/game (Petrof, 2.68), strikeouts/game (Smith, 4.74), flyouts/game (DiFeo, 14.0), groundouts/game (Petrof, 10.72).
Team Game-Highs: Runs Scored (16, vs. South Dakota), Hits (17, vs. South Dakota), RBI (16, vs.
South Dakota), Doubles (4, vs. South Dakota), HR (5, vs. South Dakota), Total Bases (36, vs. South Dakota), Walks (5, vs. Winthrop).
Individual Game-Highs: Runs Scored (3, Jascoe/Wulf), Hits (4, Carter), RBI (6, Jascoe), Doubles (1, multiple), Triple (1, Carter/Drapola), HR (2, vs. Jascoe), Total Bases (8, Jascoe), Walks (2, Jascoe/Wulf/Holzman).
Season Averages: Hits/G (10.9), Doubles/G (2.0), HR/G (1.8), BB/G (2.6), RBI/G (6.2), Runs/G (6.8).

Up Next
Akron heads back down to the Sunshine State to take part in the Jacksonville/North Florida Tournament on Feb. 28-March 1. The Zips are slated for five games in three days against Stony Brook, Jacksonville, North Florida and Purdue.