Friday, March 14, 2008

Spring Is Here

Spring has officially sprung and it is one of the busiest times of the year for our sports teams at HSU.

Coach Rita Jordan’s young softball team, that features 12 newcomers, is off to a 6-4 start against a very challenging schedule. The Cowgirls open league play this weekend at Schreiner. After that they will be home for a series Wednesday and Thursday against Sul Ross State.

It has been an amazing start to the senior year of All-American first baseman Sadye Hill. She is hitting .556 in the early going with two home runs and 11 RBIs. She has not struck out and has an on-base percentage of .625. She is also nearing the conference record for career hits, is the current leader in batting average and with five more home runs and 24 more RBIs will hold those records as well. She also is closing in on the walks record.

The key to the Cowgirls’ season will be how quickly the pitching staff develops. With three freshmen in the current rotation, all of whom have shown flashes of brilliance, this team will continue to get better as the season goes along.
The baseball team snapped a brief three-game losing streak with a come-from-behind win against UT-Tyler on Tuesday. Ryan Stepp and Wayne Pimpton hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth for the win. Kyle Barton continues to be unscored upon for the Cowboys this season in 19.2 innings of work.

They are home for a key three-game set with Mary Hardin-Baylor this weekend and then will play at ACU on Tuesday. Prior to that game on Tuesday, there will be a ceremony honoring Brad Coleman of HSU and Alec Sowards of ACU for their Rawlings Gold Glove Awards they won last season.

The tennis teams are set to embark on their Spring Break journey to California to get in some quality competition. The teams have extended their ASC winning streaks to 69 and 63 straight matches for the women and men respectively.

The men’s golf team will open its season on Monday and Tuesday at Texas Lutheran and the women just returned from a tournament in California, where they placed fourth. Ashley Luecke placed eighth for the Cowgirls.