APSU Women’s Softball
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s softball team will host its first nationally-ranked opponent in six years, 5:00pm, Tuesday, as No. 11 University of Tennessee comes to Lady Govs Field for a single game.
The last time Austin Peay (6-22) hosted a nationally-ranked team was back on April 19th, 2005, when the then sixth-ranked Lady Vols, led by All-American hurler Monica Abbott, made their first-ever trip to Clarksville.
The Lady Govs are hoping to carry momentum from Sunday’s 5-4 win against Eastern Michigan into the contest against a Tennessee squad (27-5/5-3 SEC) that swept a three-game Southeastern Conference series against South Carolina.
Austin Peay will be the last of three Ohio Valley Conference teams the Lady Vols will play this season. They already played Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Tennessee State.
Offensively, the Lady Govs are led freshman Lauren de Castro, who comes into the game hitting at a .293 clip – which includes five doubles and two home runs.
Right behind her is senior Tiffany Smith (.286, 3 HR, 16 RBI), and juniors Catie Cozart (.278, 2 HR, 11 RBI) and Amy Mills (.275, 1 HR, 7 RBI).
Tennessee enters the contest being led at the plate by Kat Dotson’s .473 batting average – one of three Lady Vols hitting better than .400 on the season. Raven Chavanne (.465) and Lauren Gibson (.413) are the other two Tennessee players hitting above .400.
In the circle, sophomore Morgan Brewer leads the Lady Govs pitching staff with a 4-8 win-loss record and a team-best 34 strikeouts.
Ellen Renfroe leads the Lady Vols pitchers with a 15-2 record and 140 strikeouts in 98.2 innings.
