PREVIEW: No. 16 Softball Starts Florida Road Trip Tonight

2/20/2020 8:45:00 AM | By: UNG Athletic Communications

Week 4
at Barry
Date: February 20, 2020
Time: 5 PM (DH)
Location: Miami Shores, Fla.
Game Coverage: UNG Softball Schedule

at Nova Southeastern
Date: February 21, 2020
Time: 5 PM (DH)
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Game Coverage: UNG Softball Schedule

at Palm Beach Atlantic
Date: February 23, 2020
Time: 12 PM (DH)
Location: West Palm Beach, Fla.
Game Coverage: UNG Softball Schedule

Game Preview: The No. 12 University of North Georgia softball team plays six more games this weekend, all in the Sunshine State as they travel to Barry, Nova Southeastern and Palm Beach Atlantic.

Rankings: North Georgia jumps up to No. 12 in the latest NFCA Top 25 poll, while PBC foe Young Harris claims the top spot in the poll for the first time in program history.

Nighthawks on the Web: Nighthawk fans not able to make it to Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium at Cottrell Park this season can follow along to home games through streaming on YouTube and Facebook, local cable television (Windstream cable channels 78.12 and HD channel 890), live statistics on UNGAthletics.com and on all social media platforms. Links for all games can be found on the softball schedule page. Fans can also follow the action through Twitter by following the softball team (@UNGSoftball).

Last Week: The Nighthawks went 6-0 last week, defeating Southern Wesleyan twice, Gannon twice and then-No. 21 Southern Indiana and then-No. 8 West Chester once each.

Scouting Barry: Barry is 7-8 on the young season, already having played three Sunshine State Conference games as well. The Buccaneers split games with both Georgia Southwestern and Flagler before falling in all three games to SSC foe Eckerd last weekend. Courtney Chisholm and Payton Germer lead the Bucs in the hitting category at .491 and .488, respectively. Those two have combined to go 15-for-16 in stolen base attempts and have two homers combined. UNG is 5-2 against the Bucs all-time and are 2-1 in Miami Shores. The two teams have not played outside of neutral site games since 2012, a 1-0 loss for the then-Saints.

Scouting Nova Southeastern: Nova Southeastern is 8-6 headed into a Wednesday night doubleheader in Sunshine State Conference play against Palm Beach Atlantic. The Sharks lost to the Sailfish in the opener Tuesday night, 3-2. At this point, NSU is 0-4 in SSC play. The Sharks do, however, have an argument for the biggest win of the season to date, downing then-No. 4 West Florida, 8-1, back in the opening weekend of the season. Sam Sisco leads the way in the batter's box, hitting .388 on the year with a pair of doubles. The Sharks lead the all-time series, 2-1. but the two teams have only played on two dates, once in 2007 and in 2015. UNG lost the latest matchup.

Scouting Palm Beach Atlantic: Palm Beach Atlantic is 9-5 going into the Wednesday night twinbill with Nova Southeastern. The Sailfish sit at 2-2 in league play. PBA has an extra innings win against then-No. 24 Valdosta State and an extra innings loss to then-No. 4 West Florida. In fact, the Sailfish have played five extra innings games, including a 17 inning showdown with Tampa in the conference opener. Magnolia West is the leading batter for PBA, hitting at a .396 clip with a .923 OPS. Abbey Busby has been rock solid in the circle as well for the Sailfish, going 6-2 with a 1.00 ERA as of Wednesday.North Georgia holds a slight 3-2 advantage in the all-time series, but the two teams have never played at PBA. Four of the five matchups have been in Dahlonega, including three matchups last season at The Hill. The two teams played a total of four times in 2019 with both teams winning a pair.

Stats: North Georgia leads the PBC in shutouts, ERA, WHIP, sacrifice bunts and sacrifice flies. UNG is second in the conference in double plays, double plays per game, doubles per game, hit batters and strikeout-to-walk ratio. Kylee Smith leads the Peach Belt Conference in ERA, games started, hits allowed per seven innings, strikeouts per seven innings and WHIP. The senior is third in the nation in strikeouts and fifth in DII in hits allowed per seven innings. Cheyanne Mosteller leads the league in sacrifice flies, while Kaylyn Anthony leads the conference in total bases.

Print Friendly Version

Related Videos

Related Stories