JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Valley State University softball program will not have any opportunities to walk-off the Lady Tigers, but it still has a huge opportunity to gain the inside track on a SWAC Tournament berth with a series victory.
What You Need to Know
Time and Dates: Friday, April 1 (5 p.m.) | Saturday, April 2 (12 & 2 p.m.)
Records: Mississippi Valley State (7-14, 5-3 SWAC) | Jackson State (14-15, 5-4 SWAC)
Location: Jackson, Mississippi – JSU Softball Field
Series History: Mississippi Valley State Leads 55-44
Last Meetings: April 2 & 7, 2021 | Jackson State Won Series 3-0 (Combined 24-5) | Itta Bena, Mississippi (MVSU Softball Field)
Winning Streak: Jackson State (W3) | Mississippi Valley State’s Last Win: April 27, 2019 (10-7, 9 Innings)
Mississippi Valley State Overview
The Devilettes been exquisite in the triples per game (0.38, 8th in NCAA), steals a contest (1.62, top-40 in NCAA), fielding percentage (.952, 2nd in SWAC), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.60, 2nd in SWAC) departments with a stellar 4.84 ERA as a staff.
Five different student-athletes appear among the national and conference leaderboards as of March 30th.
Brianna Alston and Naomi Drake both are among the top-ten in the league for sacrifice bunts on average at 0.19 and 0.15, respectively.
Daisy Page is the only hurler to be mentioned among the SWAC’s elite, showing great command with her pitches as she’s only allowed 1.58 walks per seven frames, the second-lowest mark in the conference.
Keisha White edged inside the top-60 in the country regarding doubles a night as she averages a two-bagger every other ballgame (0.50) to slot fourth in the SWAC.
By far, the team’s hottest hitter and highest ranked Devilette goes to slugger Shelby Carson whose 0.17 triples per matchup is the sixth-best clip in the entire country yet third in her own league.
Scouting The Opponent: Jackson State Lady Tigers
JSU has the second-best record among its counterparts, thanks to an impressive 9-11 showing during out-of-conference competition.
Jackson State is one of those two teams (along with Alcorn) that average more triples per game with 0.45, while they also top the league for steals per game at 2.00 (top-20 in NCAA) plus slugging percentage at 0.391.
Through the first two months or so of the campaign, Lauren Stewart has been the unquestionably biggest power hitter in the SWAC. Stewart is the nation’s triples leader (6), third in toughest to strikeout (85.0), and the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s top home run queen (5) on top of total bases (64) and slugging percentage (0.753).
Takiya Hill will most likely be the game one starter for the Blue Bengals as she is the club’s top pitchers in terms of ERA (2.94), innings pitched (69.0), batting average against (.269), strikeouts (36).
Your financial support, whether it be through purchasing season tickets, making an annual donation or committing to a major gift, directly benefits Valley’s student-athletes in the classroom and in sports.
