DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman Softball welcomes Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Eastern Division member Alabama State to Sunnyland Park for the first of a three-game league series beginning Friday, March 15, at 3 p.m. BCU arrives to the weekend after sweeping Mississippi Valley State in its conference opener, while Alabama State dropped two-of-three to Jackson State last weekend.
 
THE SCHEDULE
Friday, March 15
3 p.m. – vs. Alabama State | Live Stats
 
Saturday, March 16
10 a.m. – vs. Alabama State | Live Stats
12:30 p.m. – vs. Alabama State | Live Stats
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with everything Bethune-Cookman Softball this season by following the Wildcats social media platforms. You can follow @BCUSoftball on Instagram and @BCUSoftball on Twitter.
 
STATS & NOTES
▪ Head Coach Laura Watten needs just one win to earn her 500th win at Bethune-Cookman, and 21 for her 800th career victory.
▪ Kallie Earlington enters the weekend sporting a hit in each of her last four outings. She has reached base safely in her last five games.
▪ Meanwhile, Jessica Alaan has reached safely in her last six games for the Wildcats.
▪ Despite suffering losses in her last two outings earlier in the week against Marist, junior Angelina Badalament had one of her best outings of the year in a complete-game effort against the Red Foxes, In the second game of a doubleheader, the Plant City, Florida native posted a season-high tying three strikeouts, scattered eight hits and allowed just one run.
▪ Badalament leads the Maroon and Gold with a 2.98 ERA across the campaign.
▪ Preseason All-SWAC selection Halyne Gonzalez arrives to the weekend with a 4-8 record and a team-leading 51 strikeouts across 70 innings in the circle on the campaign.
▪ Outfielder Joslynn Davis has stolen six bases in six attempts. And it's Essence Gibbs with five steals in five attempts on the base path. Gibbs also leads the team in runs (13).
▪ Junior infielder Kendall Macauley has posted a team-most two (2) triples, adding a pair of doubles and owns the team's highest slugging percentage (.364) to go along with a .580 OPS.
▪ Thais Uyema, a grad transfer from Fort Wayne, has played and started in 22 games behind the dish for the Cats.
 
QUOTES FROM COACH WATTEN
"It was good opening up SWAC play last week with three wins at Mississippi Valley State. That's a tough place to play, and it's the furthest trip on our schedule in the SWAC East. So, it's always important to open up conference play with three wins, especially against an opponent that is good – really good, in fact, at home like Valley."
 
"This weekend is another test altogether, and that's no disrespect to any team on our schedule at all. They all pose different threats and challenges. It's just that this weekend, Alabama State always has good pitching. The last few years, they had one of the best pitchers in the league with Bailey Greenlee. Now, they have a good freshman in Ana Richiez and a JuCo arm in Charity Bibbs that are learning fast and becoming better and better each game."
 
"ASU hits the ball. That's never been an issue, and Coach [Todd] Bradley does a very good job with those hitters. You have to be so careful with the likes of Kindall DeRamus and Jaeda Gardner and Alexia Denby, and the list goes on. One bad pitch, and they're standing on second or third easily."
 
"I know Prairie View A&M has won the league tournament the past few years, but the SWAC East is a monster too. Every weekend is tough. You blink for a second and you're looking at the SWAC Tournament from the outside. Every weekend is so important. You can't afford to make mistakes because these teams will make you pay dearly."
 
SCOUTING ALABAMA STATE (11-14, 1-2 SWAC)
Rankings: USA Today/NFCA Coaches – NR | ESPN.com/USA Softball – NR
Head Coach: Todd Bradley (5th season)
2024 Batting Average: .268; Runs Per Game: 4.0; Hits Per Game: 6.8; Slugging Percentage: .351
2024 ERA: 3.59; K/BB Ratio: 1.9; Opp. Batting Avg: .283
 
BCU VS. ALABAMA STATE SERIES
▪ Dating back to 1998, Bethune-Cookman owns a 12-5 record over Alabama State in the series between the two sides.
▪ Last season, the two sides met for just one series, those three games taking place in Daytona Beach. BCU took two-of-three to win the series, dropping the finale by a single run.
▪ Since joining the SWAC, Bethune-Cookman has won six out of the nine meetings against the Hornets.
▪ Both Alabama State and Bethune-Cookman have represented the SWAC as Eastern Division champions over the last two seasons. BCU was crowned in 2022, while ASU won last season's regular season division title.
▪ The largest margin of victory in the series was a 20-1 decision in favor of the Wildcats back on Feb. 18, 2006 in Daytona Beach. That same day as part of a doubleheader, BCU won the opening contest, 13-1.
 
ALABAMA STATE NOTES & STATS
▪ Alabama State arrives to Daytona Beach with a record of 11-14 overall and a 1-2 mark in SWAC play.
▪ The Hornets dropped two-of-three last weekend in their SWAC opening series to Jackson State.
▪ Kendall Smiley, a freshman from Duluth, Georgia, leads the Hornets in batting with a .437 average. She owns a team-high 31 hits, three (3) triples and has scored 14 runs while driving in nine.
▪ Returning starters Kindall DeRamus (.355 average) and Jaeda Gardner (.328 average) are the top two in stealing bases for the Hornets, as Gardner has swiped 12 bases and DeRamus 11.
▪ Freshman pitcher Ana Richiez leads the ASU pitching staff with a 2.84 ERA and a record of 4-0 in the circle. The Miami native has played in 15 games but drawn the start in just five of those contests. She has pitched 37 innings and gathered 17 strikeouts against six walks.
▪ Holding a 5-7 record in the circle is Charity Bibbs, a junior transfer from Chipola College. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, she has an ERA of 3.18 to go along with a team-high 66 innings worked and 53 strikeouts.
▪ Three different players lead the team in RBIs with 10 in the form of DeRamus, Alexia Denby and Alana Scott, respectively.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST ALABAMA STATE
Bethune-Cookman Softball surrendered three runs in the seventh inning, allowing visiting Alabama State to capture a 4-3 come-from-behind victory in the series finale between the two sides at Sunnyland Park.
 
Trailing 3-1 in the top of the seventh, Alabama State started the frame with a leadoff single by shortstop Alana Scott, followed two plays later with a single from Brooke Ramsey. After the bases became loaded with two outs, centerfielder Kindall DeRamus singled to left at the top of the order to plate Scott and Ramsey for the tying runs. The winning run came in on the same play in the form of pinch runner JaNiyah Boykin, courtesy an error by the Wildcats outfield, putting the Hornets up 4-3.
 
ASU scored in the top of the first inning with DeRamus coming in on a wild pitch from Bethune-Cookman starting pitcher Halyne Gonzalez. DeRamus singled to begin the game, eventually stealing second and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt.
 
Bethune-Cookman tied things up in the home-half of the third with a Carrington Robinson single up the middle to drive in Shania Owens. BCU stepped in front, 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth as Owens drew a bases-loaded walk allowing catcher Jordyn Villanueva to score. The Wildcats lead swelled to 3-1 in the home-half of the fifth.
 
Carrington Robinson singled and advanced on an error to lead off the at-bat for the Maroon and Gold. She scored a play later with an RBI groundout from Kayla Traylor.
 
The win was collected by ASU reliever Olivia Brown, moving her record to 5-2 for the season. She went two innings in the circle, allowing one unearned run on three hits. The save went to Bailey Greenlee, her second of the year, as she pitched the seventh. The loss went to BCU relief pitcher Victoria Guzman (2-10).
 
The Hornets were led offensively by DeRamus with a 2-for-4 afternoon, adding a run and two RBIs. BCU was charged by a 3-for-3 day by Robinson, as she also scored one and drove in another. Essence Gibbs was 2-for-3 at the dish for the Cats as well.
 
UP NEXT
Bethune-Cookman travels back out on the road with a three-game SWAC series to take place at Alabama A&M in Huntsville, Alabama. The series starts with a doubleheader on Friday, March 22, and concludes a day later with a single contest.
 
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