Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Friday, March 4
Orlando, Fla.
10:00 AM
Middle Tennessee
vs
South Dakota
Raiders travel back to the Sunshine State
3/3/2016 10:00:00 AM | Softball
MT to compete in the UCF Tournament in Orlando, Fla.
MURFREESBORO – Middle Tennessee (8-7) softball will head back to Florida this weekend as they will play in the UCF Tournament in Orlando, hosted by the UCF Knights.
Action will begin Friday as the Raiders will take on their second opponent this year from the Mount Rushmore State. MT is scheduled to take on the South Dakota Coyotes at 10 a.m. central time, followed by the host Knights at 2:30 p.m.
Saturday begins early for another week as the Raiders are scheduled to play the North Florida Ospreys at 8 a.m. central, and then the La Salle Explorers from Philadelphia at 10 a.m. MT will finish the tournament with the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds Sunday, a game originally scheduled for 10 a.m. central will now take place at 11 a.m.
The Blue Raiders enter the weekend 8-7 on the season after going 2-3 at the Central Arkansas Invitational last weekend. Kirstyn Cuccia has been on fire of late as the freshman from Murfreesboro is hitting .400 and has started all 15 games for MT this season. Another freshman, Payton Grove, has also begun the season well as she leads the team with a .467 batting average in 12 games. Each player has four extra base hits, all four are doubles for Grove as Cuccia as three doubles and a triple.
Kelci Cheney and Pattie Taylor will battle in the circle for the Raiders this weekend as Cheney leads the team with a 3.50 ERA, but Taylor is right behind her with a 3.71 ERA. Cheney is 5-5 on the season and has started 10 of her 12 appearances. In 58.0 innings pitched Cheney has allowed 38 runs on 59 hits while walking 22 and striking out 32. Taylor is 2-1 with a save in only nine appearances. In 22.2 innings Taylor has allowed 12 runs on 29 hits and struck out 10 against four walks.
The Coyotes are 1-14 to begin the year and are coming off a tough weekend in Davis, Calif. where they lost all five of their games at the Aggie Tournament. South Dakota played well, however, as four of their losses were by a total of six runs.
UCF made the final of the Tallahassee Regional in last season's NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by the host Florida State. The Knights have had a slow start to this season as they're 8-8 coming into the weekend. However, in the state of Florida this season UCF is 8-3 after a 4-1 weekend at the Citrus Classic II in Kissimmee, Fla. last weekend.
North Florida has begun 2016 just 4-12, but they're coming off a 2-3 mark last weekend at the Disney Citrus Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. During the weekend they defeated Penn State and Bryant and kept things close with No. 23 Notre Dame, finally surrendering 7-3.
La Salle is just 0-4 this season, but they're first weekend of competition was last weekend as they traveled to Spartanburg, S.C. for a tournament hosted by USC Upstate and Furman. They lost to Ohio and Virginia as well as the two hosts.
LIU Brooklyn is 4-11 this season, but they have played a tough schedule to this point. They have wins over Illinois and St. John's and have played four teams either in the top 25 or receiving votes for the ranking. They have also played three games against Conference USA opponents. They've gone against FIU and had two games against Marshall, losing all three.
Fans can follow the tournament at this link: http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/ucf-tournament-16.html The link is to the tournament page, which provides live stats for each game and a video stream for any game that involves the host UCF.
Action will begin Friday as the Raiders will take on their second opponent this year from the Mount Rushmore State. MT is scheduled to take on the South Dakota Coyotes at 10 a.m. central time, followed by the host Knights at 2:30 p.m.
Saturday begins early for another week as the Raiders are scheduled to play the North Florida Ospreys at 8 a.m. central, and then the La Salle Explorers from Philadelphia at 10 a.m. MT will finish the tournament with the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds Sunday, a game originally scheduled for 10 a.m. central will now take place at 11 a.m.
The Blue Raiders enter the weekend 8-7 on the season after going 2-3 at the Central Arkansas Invitational last weekend. Kirstyn Cuccia has been on fire of late as the freshman from Murfreesboro is hitting .400 and has started all 15 games for MT this season. Another freshman, Payton Grove, has also begun the season well as she leads the team with a .467 batting average in 12 games. Each player has four extra base hits, all four are doubles for Grove as Cuccia as three doubles and a triple.
Kelci Cheney and Pattie Taylor will battle in the circle for the Raiders this weekend as Cheney leads the team with a 3.50 ERA, but Taylor is right behind her with a 3.71 ERA. Cheney is 5-5 on the season and has started 10 of her 12 appearances. In 58.0 innings pitched Cheney has allowed 38 runs on 59 hits while walking 22 and striking out 32. Taylor is 2-1 with a save in only nine appearances. In 22.2 innings Taylor has allowed 12 runs on 29 hits and struck out 10 against four walks.
The Coyotes are 1-14 to begin the year and are coming off a tough weekend in Davis, Calif. where they lost all five of their games at the Aggie Tournament. South Dakota played well, however, as four of their losses were by a total of six runs.
UCF made the final of the Tallahassee Regional in last season's NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by the host Florida State. The Knights have had a slow start to this season as they're 8-8 coming into the weekend. However, in the state of Florida this season UCF is 8-3 after a 4-1 weekend at the Citrus Classic II in Kissimmee, Fla. last weekend.
North Florida has begun 2016 just 4-12, but they're coming off a 2-3 mark last weekend at the Disney Citrus Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. During the weekend they defeated Penn State and Bryant and kept things close with No. 23 Notre Dame, finally surrendering 7-3.
La Salle is just 0-4 this season, but they're first weekend of competition was last weekend as they traveled to Spartanburg, S.C. for a tournament hosted by USC Upstate and Furman. They lost to Ohio and Virginia as well as the two hosts.
LIU Brooklyn is 4-11 this season, but they have played a tough schedule to this point. They have wins over Illinois and St. John's and have played four teams either in the top 25 or receiving votes for the ranking. They have also played three games against Conference USA opponents. They've gone against FIU and had two games against Marshall, losing all three.
Fans can follow the tournament at this link: http://www.ucfknights.com/
Players Mentioned
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/ Softball
OF/C
/ Softball
SS/UT
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