Tournament Preview: The No. 3 University of North Georgia softball team will hit the road for the NFCA Leadoff Classic where they will take on some of the nation's best programs from the past few years.
Rankings: UNG is ranked No. 3 in the preseason NFCA top 25 poll, announced earlier this week. The new poll will be released near the end of the month.
Nighthawks on the Web: Links for the weekend that are available can be found on the UNG softball team's schedule page at UNGAthletics.com. Fans can also follow the action through Twitter by following the softball team (@UNGSoftball).
Last Week: The Nighthawks went 5-2 in the opening weekend of action at the Gulf Coast Invitational, defeating West Alabama, Montevallo, Union, Shorter and Mississippi College. UNG fell to Auburn-Montgomery, 9-0, and No. 22 Valdosta State, 3-2
Opponents: North Georgia will play No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne and Harding on Friday, Hillsdale and Azusa Pacific on Saturday and California (Penn.) on Sunday. The teams are a combined 2-2 on the year (L-R 2-0, Azusa Pacific 0-2) coming into the tournament. Kicking off the weekend, UNG will renew the rivalry with Lenoir-Rhyne. The Nighthawks and Bears have met in postseason action five times, twice in the Super Regional round. UNG leads the all-time series against L-R, 10-3.
Watch List: Kylee Smith and Shelby Hammontree were named to the Schutt Sports / NFCA DII Player of the Year Watch List Thursday by the association. Both juniors, the two athletes were joined by two other PBC student-athletes. The list consists of returning NFCA All-Americans and those voted on by the NFCA Division II All-American Committee.
PBC Individual State: Kaylyn Anthony is tied for fourth in the conference in doubles through the first week of the season, hitting three two-baggers at the Gulf Coast Invitational. Lexi Duncan is one behind Anthony, sitting in a tie for seventh.
PBC Team Stats: UNG currently has the second-lowest ERA in the Peach Belt, 10 points behind USC Aiken, who has played five fewer games. Laken Chambers leads the league in ERA at 0.64, while Kylee Smith (1.31) and Abbie Crawford (1.68) are seventh and ninth, respectively.
