Softball | 3/1/2018 9:03:00 AM

Lady Braves Travel for Weekend Tournament at Mississippi State

Alcorn Game Notes | Live Stats

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Led by the new all-time hits leader in school history, the Alcorn State University softball program will play five games over the weekend on the campus of Mississippi State University at Nusz Park.
 
The schedule begins Friday at 6 p.m. against Sam Houston State (3-10), and the two programs will do it again at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Alcorn (1-9) will play another Saturday evening at 7 p.m. against Mercer (12-2). The Lady Braves will round out the weekend Sunday against Mercer at 9 a.m. and Lamar (7-7) at 11:30 a.m.
 
Senior first baseman Taylor Hughes made history this past weekend for Alcorn (1-9) at the LA Tech Invitational. With six hits, she upped her career total to 154 to become Alcorn's all-time leader. Hughes was also named to the All-Tournament Team and the SWAC Hitter of the Week.
 
In addition to hits, Hughes also ranks third all-time in the school record book in both doubles (28) and RBI (86), sixth in walks (51), seventh in runs scored (78) and 11th in triples (6).
 
Hughes leads the team with a .444 batting average and .500 on-base percentage on the year. She was named the 2018 SWAC Preseason Player of the Year. Hughes won both 2017 SWAC Player and Hitter of the Year honors last season.
 
Hughes is riding an eight-game hitting streak. Junior Victoria Tyler is on a two-game hitting streak and four-game on-base streak. Tyler hit a two-run homer over the weekend against Saint Louis for the third in her career.
 
The Lady Braves have mixed and matched their lineup cards this year as they've used 10 different batting orders and eight different starting lineups in 10 games.
 
SHSU has wins this season over Portland State 6-4, Northern Colorado 7-3 and UT Arlington 5-1. Brooke Malia leads the team with a .308 batting average and .615 slugging with three homers. Lindsey McLeod is the team's ace with a 2.72 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 36.0 innings.
 
Mercer is on a six-game winning-streak. Its most notable wins are over Michigan State 2-1 and Georgetown 8-4. Seven of Mercer's nine starting bats hit over .300 and two are over .400. Additionally, the Bears have three pitchers who have under a 2.00 ERA including Preston Stella who has a 4-0 record and a 1.64 ERA.
 
Lamar is coming off a great weekend at their host tournament where it went 4-0 with two wins over Binghampton 7-4, 2-0 and victories over Loyola-Chicago 5-4 and Alabama A&M 10-9. Savana Guidry is hitting .500 at the plate and has started 13 of 14 games.
 
This weekend marks the first-ever meetings for Alcorn against Sam Houston State and Mercer. The Lady Braves are seeking their first-ever win over Lamar as the teams have met seven times prior.
 
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