Austin Peay Softball vs. UT Martin
Wednesday, April 11th | First Pitch: 5:00pm
Martin, TN | Bettye Giles Softball Field
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s softball team will start a stretch of four key Ohio Valley Conference game in four days, beginning with a 5:00pm, Thursday game at league-leading UT Martin.
UT Martin (29-13, 17-3 OVC), who beat the Lady Govs in two close games at Cheryl Holt Field back on April 4th, lead the conference by a full three games over second-place Jacksonville State. As a result, the Skyhawks hold the inside track to host the OVC tournament, starting May 10th.
Austin Peay is led offensively by sophomore Lauren de Castro, who is hitting at a .389 clip for the season, and comes into the game with a 13-game hitting streak, the longest such streak by a Lady Gov in more than 13 years.
She also leads the team in runs scored (21), RBI (20), slugging percentage (.611), on-base percentage (.441), doubles (7) and walks (10), while tied with redshirt junior Jessica Ryan for the team’s home run lead (5).
Freshman Paige Neely, who has been red-hot at the plate over the last 10 games with a team-best .517 batting average, has raised her season’s average to .350 and only trails de Castro in RBI with 13. She also hit her career’s first home run last week versus UT Martin.
In the circle, junior Morgan Brewer leads the Lady Govs pitching staff with a 6-8 win-loss mark this season and owns a 3.34 ERA to go with 78 strikeouts in 100.2 innings of work. Leading the team in ERA (2.85) is de Castro, who sports a 4-5 win-loss record with 44 strikeouts in 66.1 inning of work.
Senior Ashley Bolda and sophomore Taylor Mills also have Lady Govs’ pitching wins this season.
The Skyhawks are led by the conference’s top hitter Leah Taylor, who comes in with a .421 batting average and team high’s in runs scored (45) and RBI (30). APSU’s de Castro ranks second to Taylor in batting average.
Chelsea Jones has been the workhorse for the UT Martin pitching staff, with 167.2 innings pitched so far this season, and sports a 19-5 overall record, with a 2.63 ERA and 126 strikeouts.
After Thursday’s road game at UT Martin, the Lady Govs will return home for a Saturday-Sunday three-game OVC series versus Southeast Missouri.
