Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Presbyterian
MT Heads to North Florida for Osprey Classic
3/1/2018 10:00:00 AM | Softball
Date: Friday, March 2 - Sunday, March 4
Teams: Middle Tennessee vs. Presbyterian, North Florida, Campbell and Iowa State
Location: UNF Softball Complex – Jacksonville, Fla.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee softball team heads back to Florida for their final tournament of the 2018 season. The Blue Raiders will take part in the Osprey Classic, hosted by North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
Middle will play Presbyterian and North Florida on Friday at 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. Then on Saturday, the Raiders will take on Campbell and Iowa State back-to-back starting at 9:30 a.m. MT closes out the weekend playing Presbyterian for the second time at 10:30 a.m.
Live Stats will be available for all games and can be found here: http://sidearmstats.com/unf/softball/
Scouting the Blue Raiders (11-5)
Middle has won 10 of its 11 games heading into the Osprey Classic. Five of the ten wins have been shutouts including the last two to close out the EMU Madeira Beach Spring Invitational II last weekend. MT shutout Marist (8-0) and Rhode Island (6-0) and looks to carry that momentum into Jacksonville.
Cori Jennings and Amber Baldwin combined for the shutout over Marist with Jennings picking up the win, her fourth of the year. Gretchen Greer and Pattie Ruth Taylor combined for the win over Rhode Island. Greer got the win in that game, her second of the season.
Baldwin leads the pitching staff with a 1.71 ERA and a 4-1 record. Jennings has pitched the most innings (37.1) and leads the squad in strikeouts with 24.
At the plate the Blue Raiders hit .320 as a team last weekend and recorded eight doubles, a triple, three home runs, 31 RBI and 14 stolen bases.
Freshman Jocelynn De La Cruz accounted for 11 RBI, three doubles and a home run. Lexi Cushing knocked out another two home runs last weekend, she is now up to four on the season. The two both slugged over .720 on the weekend.
Scouting Presbyterian (1-11)
The Blue Hose enter the tournament having won just one game during the still young season. The win came back on Feb. 17 as Presbyterian bested Iona 10-5 in eight innings.
Jonnie Petree is the only member of the Blue Hose hitting above .300. She has a .324 batting average with a team-high 12 hits and eight stolen bases. Megan Anderson leads the squad in RBI with six and doubles with two. Grace Wallace and Lindsay Harris both have home runs on the season for PC.
In the cicle, Camryn Alverson has Presbyterian's lone win. She has made six appearances in the circle and struck out four for a team-low 4.08 ERA. Kaylee Allen has made 10 appearances, starting five for a team-high 25.2 innings and team-leading 21 strikeouts.
Scouting North Florida (9-8)
North Florida is 4-2 at home this season and as the tournament host hold a slight advantage. The Osprey hosted the UNF Invite back on Feb. 16-17 and went 4-0 over Canisus, Providence and UT Arlington, winning three of those games in shutouts.
The Osprey also won three games in shutouts last weekend at the Louisiana Classics. Sydney Matzko pitched all three of those shutout wins, including against No. 15 Louisiana. She was named Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Week for her efforts. On the year she has a 5-4 record, 1.12 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 68.2 innings in the circle.
At the plate, Navia Penrod leads the Osprey with a .464 batting average and a team-high 26 hits and eight stolen bases. Dominica Cocuzza leads the squad in doubles with seven, which accounts for half of her hits this season. Tiffany Lower leads UNF in RBI with nine and has the lone triple. The Osprey are yet to hit a home run in 2018.
Scouting Campbell (7-8)
This weekend Campbell is playing in both the Osprey Classic and the Jacksonville Tournament. The Camels will face Virginia Tech and Jacksonville in addition to MT and the hosts, UNF.
Rachel McCollum leads the Camels at the plate, hitting .375 with a team-leading six doubles, three home runs and 20 RBI. Caroline Smith also has six doubles on the year to go with two homers.
In the circle, Megan Richards has thrown four complete games and leads the Camel hurlers with 43 innings of work. She boasts a 4-3 record and a team-low 2.93 ERA with 31 strikeouts. She also has one save.
Scouting Iowa State (8-7)
The Cyclones will also be taking part in the duel tournaments, playing over at Jacksonville as well. Iowa State has played some tough opponents to open the 2018 slate, including newly ranked Long Beach State and No. 2 Florida. The Cyclones fell to the Gators twice last weekend, 8-0 and 3-0.
Sally Woolpert and Sami Williams lead Iowa State at the plate with .355 and .347 batting averages, respectively. Kaylee Bosworth leads the Cyclones in RBI with nine while also posting a team-high three home runs and one of the squad's two triples. Taylor Nearad has the team's other triple and leads Iowa State in doubles with five.
Brianna Weilbacher has pitched a team-high 34.2 innings in the circle for the Cyclones and has a team-low 2.62 ERA. She has also thrown the team's only two shutouts, over Georgia Southern and Saint Francis. She also has a team-high 29 strikeouts.
