Thursday, April 08, 2010

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (April 8, 2010) - If the 2010 softball season ended today, the ETSU softball team would be the sixth and final team to make the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.

However, the Lady Bucs have a little over one-half of the conference season remaining, but the Blue and Gold can distance them from Jacksonville and pull ahead of North Florida in the league standings if ETSU takes care of business on the diamond this weekend.

On Friday night ETSU takes on the Dolphins at the JU Softball Complex (5/7 p.m.), and on Saturday afternoon the Lady Bucs travel to UNF to face the Opsreys at 1 and 3 p.m. 

ETSU (14-24, 3-5) looks to bounce back into the win column as the Lady Bucs have lost four straight including a pair at Virginia Tech on Tuesday night. Senior right-hander Darci Gilbert (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) tossed some solid innings for the Lady Bucs, but the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native had nothing to show for it other than a loss after giving up only two runs in 8.1 innings. Since March 20, Gilbert has allowed five earned runs in 31.2 innings and leads the pitching staff with a 1.11 ERA.

Meanwhile, at the plate, freshman utility star Lucy Schneider (Dade City, Fla.) carries a six-game hitting streak back to her home state of Florida. Schneider, who leads the club with seven doubles and is second in hitting (.282), has posted eight hits in her last 23 at-bats.

Jacksonville (23-15, 2-6) is coming off a split at UNF on Tuesday night, but the Dolphins have lost eight of their last ten games.

The Dolphins boast a pair of conference standouts as red-shirt sophomore Kayla Ouellet ranks third in hitting (.375) and senior right-hander Ashley Iveson's 2.11 ERA ranks tenth among A-Sun competitors.

On Saturday the Lady Bucs will face a UNF team that sits at 20-21, 6-4, and the Ospreys are eligible for the conference tournament for the first time since joining the A-Sun. Prior to taking on ETSU on Saturday, UNF will play two against USC Upstate on Friday.

Fans unable to make the trip to Florida can catch the ETSU/Jacksonville series live on ASun.TV, while live stats will be provided for both series. To access live stats, click on the links above.

For more information on Lady Buccaneer softball, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.