TOURNAMENT: Florida Atlantic (Parents' Weekend)
DATES: Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 8
TEAMS: Bethune-Cookman, Coastal Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Hofstra
LOCATION: Boca Raton, Fla.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Bethune-Cookman University softball team wraps up its east coast tournament play as the Wildcats take part in the Florida Atlantic Parents' Weekend Tournament Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 8 in Boca Raton, Florida.
The tournament field in includes B-CU, Coastal Carolina, the host FAU Owls, No. 11/12 Florida State and Hofstra.
The Cats open with No. 11/12 FSU on Friday at 12:15 p.m., followed by a midday match-up with Hofstra at 2:30 p.m. B-CU opens Saturday versus the CCU Chanticleers during a 9 p.m. first-pitch, finishing with the host FAU at 3:45 p.m., and wrapping-up tournament action Sunday at 12:15 p.m. against the Owls.
Wildcat Facts
Senior Calesha Shelley and freshmen Mariah Davis are batting a team-best .328, each collected 20 hits on 61 at bats. Shelley has added two triples and five stolen bases while Davis as one triple on the season and five RBIs.
Sophomore's Bailey Conner (2-3) and Sabrina Anguiano (2-12) have split the Wildcat victories on the mound while Conner boosts a 5.55 ERA and Anguiano a 4.71. The duo has fanned a total of 52 batters with 13 and 39 respectively.
Rookie Nereyda Gutierrez and Ortega earning All-Tournament Honors at the Charleston Challenge.
Ortega was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Player of the Week while Anguiano earned MEAC Pitcher of the Week and Gutierrez Rookie of the Week (Feb. 9).
Sophomore Bailey Conner earned MEAC Pitcher of the Week honors (Feb. 23) while freshman Mariah Davis earned Rookie of the Week (March 2).
Scouting the Opponents
Coastal Carolina: Seven Chants' starters are batting over .300, a different combination of seven have 10 or more RBIs and six have hit at least three home runs. Kory Hayden leads with the way with a .426 average and 17 RBIs while sharing the team-high of five homers with Morgan Noad. Noad is second in batting at .392 and RBIs with 15, followed by Kiana Quolas at .377 with 14 RBIs. Amanda Daneker and Kelsey Dominik each have four home runs and 12 RBIs, while Bri Chiusano is second on the squad in hits (21) and runs (15) and is coming off her best weekend of the season.
Coastal carries a team ERA of 2.73 into the weekend. Dominik is 6-2 with a 2.18 ERA and three shutouts, while Quolas' 3.28 ERA has come against higher-quality competition.
FAU: Florida Atlantic is off to a hot start at 16-3, including 13-1 at home. The Owls had a 14-game winning streak earlier in this season before falling to Stephen F. Austin and LSU on the same day on Feb. 28. Hofstra is 3-8 in the all-time series. FAU is receiving a vote in the latest NFCA national poll.
FSU: The Seminoles are off to a 13-5 start and 3-0 in ACC play following a three-game sweep against Boston College that has propelled the Seminoles to a four-game winning streak entering the tournament. FSU features ace pitcher Lacey Waldrop, who was named to USA Softball's preseason top-50 watch list. She is off to a 9-3 start with a 0.89 ERA. In 13 appearances totaling 10 starts, she has allowed just 34 hits in 70 2/3 innings with 94 strikeouts against just 23 walks.
Hofstra: Senior pitcher Taylor Pirone became the first Hofstra player in 2015 to win a CAA award when she garnered Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 24 after posting two wins and a save in the Louisiana-Lafayette Invitational. She has been dependable as both a starter and reliever, as evidenced by her throwing 4 2/3 hitless innings in relief to earn the win over No. 20 Notre Dame and her save against Iowa.
Junior outfielder and leadoff hitter Chloe Fitzgerald leads Hofstra with a .333 batting average while freshman Brittany Allocca has driven in a team-high nine runs in her first 10 collegiate games.
Coverage
Live stats for all games will be available at fausports.com. For tickets, call the FAU Ticket Office at 1-866-FAU-OWLS.The tournament central page can be found here.
