LAKELAND, Fla. With the regular season cemented behind them, the No. 11 Southeastern University softball team stares ahead at the 2017 postseason. The Fire aim to capture their first Sun Conference Tournament championship in program history, entering the field this year as the two seed.
SEU makes the brief trek over to Clermont, where the Fire battle the three seeded Thomas University Night Hawks in the first round on Friday at 12:30 p.m.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Dates: May 4-6, 2017
Location: Clermont, Fla.
Stadium: PFX Athletics Legends Way Ballfields
Livestream: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/thesun/
Twitter Updates: @SEUFireSoftball
Format: Double Elimination
THE FIELD
No. 1 Warner (22-13, 16-5 TSC)
No. 2 Southeastern (38-13, 16-5 TSC)
No. 3 Thomas (34-12, 14-7 TSC)
No. 4 Ave Maria (29-14, 14-7 TSC)
No. 5 USCB (26-22, 8-13 TSC)
SERIES HISTORY (THOMAS)
Overall: SEU leads 10-2
Streak: TU W1
Lakeland: SEU leads 4-1
Thomasville: SEU leads 5-1
Neutral: SEU leads 1-0
Postseason: SEU leads 1-0
First Meeting: April 26, 2013
Last Meeting: April 8, 2017
SOUTHEASTERN FIRE
2017 Record: (38-13, 16-5 TSC)
2017 Record vs. TSC Tournament Field: 8-5
Head Coach:
Anna Welsh
Career: 551-214-2 (15
th season)
SEU: 185-80 (4
th season)
2017 STAT LEADERS
AVG:
Cheyenne Blaha (.396)
2B:
Kiah Ferrell (12)
HR: Blaha, Pietrzak (5)
RBI:
Brandee Pietrzak (33)
SB:
Heather Faulk (24)
K:
Stef Guercio (146)
W:
Lindsie Scholwinski (19)
THOMAS NIGHT HAWKS
2017 Record: (34-12, 14-7 TSC)
2017 Record vs. TSC Tournament Field: 6-6
Head Coach: Bill Wilson
Career: 414-381-2 (17
th season)
TU: 204-205 (10
th season)
2017 STAT LEADERS:
AVG: Kelsey Connolly (.421)
2B: Connolly, Kaylee Smith (11)
HR: Connolly (10)
RBI: Connolly (55)
SB: Victoria Camina (25)
K: Lauren West (96)
W: West (19)
The Fire won 10 of their last 12 to close out the regular season, finishing on a five game win streak.
The stellar performance of the SEU pitching staff garnered success for the team down the stretch. Fire arms led the conference in Team ERA (1.84), Opponent Batting Average (.232), and have not allowed a run to score in their last 26 frames tossed.
At the plate, freshman
Sam Holcomb emerged as a catalyst near the top of the order for the Fire. The Niceville, Fla. is belting .444 over her last five games with five runs scored and two swiped bags.
The Night Hawks finished the regular season campaign with back to back conference series wins. Their last conference series loss was suffered at the hands of Southeastern on April 7-8, where the Fire took two of three in Lakeland.
Few teams storm the base paths more than Thomas. The Night Hawks average the fifth most steal attempts per game in the NAIA at 3.196 and are seventh in total swiped bags (117). They have four players with 17 stolen bases or more on the season.
Junior catcher Kelsey Connolly witnessed her 13 game hit streak snapped in the regular season finale. However, she has mashed a RBI in eight consecutive contests.
FAST FIRE FACTS
- The Fire rank eighth in the NAIA in total batters struck out (301).
- They rank ninth in the NAIA in total stolen bases (110).
- SEU has outscored opponents 266-131 on the season.
- Southeastern is .500 in postseason play all-time.
