Lone Star Conference games start this week with teams playing a single round-robin schedule with a doubleheader (two games) against each league opponent. The LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games. The top 10 teams will qualify for the single-elimination conference championship to determine the league’s tournament champion.
UT Tyler tops the standings at 14-0 in non-conference play, while Angelo State and Texas A&M-Kingsville are each 15-1.
In the NCAA Division II South Central Region, LSC teams are 37-18 combined versus Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference competition.
LSC schedule and results available here:
http://www.lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=softball&&
SOFTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Kasey Flores, Lubbock Christian, SR, Humanities, Infield, El Paso, Texas, Eastlake HS
Flores helped LCU to a sweep of Eastern New Mexico, posting a .667 batting average and .857 on-base percentage. She was 1-for-1 with a home run and two RBI (walked 3 times) in the opener and followed with a 1-for-2 performance in the second game.
PITCHER
Catalina Cavazos, St. Mary's, JR, Biology, Houston, Texas, North Shore HS
In her first Battle of the Saints, junior college transfer Catalina Cavazos shut out the Hilltoppers in a 1-0 victory, striking out six. The Houston native allowed only four singles, retiring 13 straight from the 2nd until the sixth when a hitter reached via error. SEU hit just .160 against Cavazos as she improved to 6-0 on the year and helped the Rattlers improve to 15-3 on the year.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Hitter
F-8 Paxton Scheurer, Angelo State
F-15 Loren Kelly, Texas A&M-Kingsville
F-22 Tyla Lee, Lubbock Christian
M-1 Kasey Flores, Lubbock Christian
Pitcher
F-8 Emily Otto, Texas A&M-Commerce
F-15 Taylor Franco, Lubbock Christian
F-22 Alyssa LeBlanc, Texas A&M-Commerce
M-1 Catalina Cavazos, St. Mary's
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Taylor Franco, Lubbock Christian, had both wins in a doubleheader sweep of Eastern New Mexico to extend LCU's win streak to 14 games. She had 8.1 scoreless innings to extend to 24.1 scoreless innings pitched at home (no runs earned or unearned allowed at home). She opened the series with a complete game shutout, marking her 39th career complete game (fifth of the season) and she claimed her 17th career shutout (third of the season). Franco's 17 career shutouts is tied for seventh among active NCAA Division II pitchers. In the second game, she came into relief with the game tied and the lead-run at third base and was able to get out of the jam and went 2.1 innings to record the win. Franco also forced 14 groundouts and did not have a fly-out recorded.