SHREVEPORT �- After a three-game road trip, the Centenary softball team will return home for a series with Summit League foe South Dakota State. The Ladies and Jackrabbits will begin their three-game showdown on Friday at 4 p.m. and will conclude Saturday at noon.
Centenary will look to bounce back after Wednesday's 2-1 extra inning loss to Nicholls State. Freshman Lindsey Smith had the Ladies lone RBI after singling in junior Haley Bassett, who doubled to lead-off the fifth.
Smith continues to lead the Ladies offense with a .355 average, 38 hits, 10 home runs and 30 RBIs. In the circle, freshman Hillary Phillips is second in league with a 1.66 ERA, first in opponents batting average (.206), fourth in innings pitched (109.2) and third in strike outs (86).
SDSU comes into the weekend 4-4 in its last eight games and is 4-2 in league play, which currently puts them in third place. During the Jackrabbits last time out they defeated Southern Utah 8-0, but lost the two previous games to the Thunderbirds.
This season SDSU is led by Ashley Durazo, who is hitting .386 with a team-high two home runs and 17 RBIs. As a team in 2009, the Jackrabbits have scored 77 runs and are hitting just .240, while having been struck out 188 times.
In the circle Pam Nicholson has a team-low 5.11 ERA in 72.2 innings, but is just 3-7 on the season. Jenna Marston has thrown a team-high 83.1 innings, but has a 6.13 ERA and has given up 109 runs.
After the weekend series with SDSU, Centenary won't return home until April 24 for the start of a conference weekend against Southern Utah. The final home for the Ladies in 2009 will be on April 29 against Northwestern State.
