Austin Peay Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s softball team will be take its final 2014 regular-season road trip this weekend as it travels to Charleston, IL, to square off against Eastern Illinois for a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.
Austin Peay (19-27, 7-13 OVC) enters the weekend sitting in the eighth and final spot for a possible berth into the OVC post-season tournament, a half a game ahead of Morehead State and a full game ahead of Belmont.
Eastern Illinois (34-13, 14-4 OVC) is currently in third place in the OVC standings and enters the weekend holding the highest RPI among conference teams coming in at number 62.
This weekend also will mark the first meeting between APSU second-year head coach Stephanie Paris and Panthers Angie Nicholson, who came to EIU this year after seven years as the Cleveland State head coach.
On the field, the Lady Govs are led offensively by senior Lauren de Castro, who enters the series hitting at a .365 clip that includes nine doubles, a triple and five home runs. She is tied for the team lead in RBI with 25 and is second on the team in runs scored with 24.
Senior Kayla Davidson, who after getting off to a slow start, is batting .283 on the season with a team-best 12 doubles to go with a triple and three home runs. She is tied with de Castro for the RBI lead with 25.
Sophomore Mel Pavel (.273.1 HR.20 RBI) and fifth-year senior Kristin Whitmire (.260/3 HR/20 RBI) are also have solid seasons for the Lady Govs.
The Panthers enter the series with a quartet of hitters batting over the .300, led by Hannah Cole’s .342 batting average, which includes nine doubles, four triples and five home runs.
In the circle, de Castro tops the Lady Govs pitching staff with a 12-12 win-loss record and a team-best 3.15 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 140 innings worked.
Freshman Sidney Hooper (4-5, 5.95 ERA) is coming off a solid start last weekend in defeating Eastern Kentucky while fellow freshman Brianna Bartuccio (2-7, 6.30 ERA) and senior Taylor Mills (1-2, 9.26 ERA) have the other APSU pitching wins this season.
For EIU, the Panthers have the best one-two starting-pitching punch in the conference, with Hanna Mennenga (18-4, 1.82 ERA, 160 Ks) and Stephanie Maday (15-6, 1.92 ERA, 115 Ks).
Following the weekend, the Lady Govs will close out its 2014 regular season, May 3rd-4th, at Cheryl Holt Field by hosting Tennessee Martin.
