APSU Sports Information
Birmingham, AL – Austin Peay State University’s softball team will step out of Ohio Valley Conference play for the final time in 2016, 3:00pm, Wednesday, when it travels to Samford University for a doubleheader.
The Governors (6-29) enter the twinbill having been held scoreless for the last 23 innings, including being swept in a three-game OVC series at Eastern Illinois this past weekend.
Samford (26-17), which is leading the Southern Conference standings, comes into the matchup having won two of three games versus SoCon member Western Carolina this past weekend.Wednesday’s first game will be the 44th meeting between the two schools, the 10th most played series in Austin Peay history, dating back to their first meeting on March 15, 1989.
Overall, the Governors trail the Bulldogs 29-14 in the series, including a 5-16 mark in Birmingham, AL.
Offensively, Austin Peay is led by a pair of first-year players, with redshirt freshman Kacy Acree and true freshman Danielle Liermann are putting up some of the best numbers in school history for newcomers.
Acree, APSU’s right fielder who missed last season after knee surgery, leads the team with a .369 batting average, including 10 doubles, two triples and four home runs.
She also leads the team in runs scored with 25. Liermann, meanwhile, is hitting at a .361 clip from the third-base position, with nine doubles, a triple and a team-best five home runs and 29 RBIs.
Liermann’s RBI total is an APSU freshman single-season record, breaking the old mark of 27 set during by Daniella Hooper and Ashley Taylor in 2007.
In the circle, junior Autumn Hanners leads the Govs’ pitching staff with a 3-12 win-loss mark, with a 4.02 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 78.1 innings of work this season.
Fellow juniors Allie Blackwood (2-0) and Christiana Gable (1-1) have the other wins for Austin Peay this season.