Softball | April 14, 2015

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – La Salle has a busy midweek as they travel to Villanova for a single game on Tuesday before welcoming UMBC and Drexel for home doubleheaders on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
 
La Salle Explorers (9-8; 7-2 A-10) at Villanova Wildcats (18-19; 6-6 Big East)
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 | 3:30 PM|  Villanova Softball Complex
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La Salle Explorers (9-8; 7-2 A-10) vs. UMBC Retrievers (17-14; 7-2 America East)
Wednesday, April 15, 2015 | 2:30 PM| 4:30 PM | West Campus Softball Field
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La Salle Explorers (9-8; 7-2 A-10) vs. Drexel Dragons (13-15; 3-8 CAA)
Thursday, April 16, 2015 | 2:30 PM| 4:30 PM | West Campus Softball Field
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Scouting the Explorers 
La Salle moved into second place in the Atlantic 10 at 7-2 in conference play after grabbing a weekend sweep over Rhode Island. The Explorers are riding a five game winning streak heading into the midweek contests.
 
Two Explorers rank in the top ten in batting in the Atlantic 10 with sophomore Christina Bascara and freshman Valerie Pineiro owning the hot bats. Bascara is leadingin the conference with a .487 average which is good for ninth in the country, while also ranking second in on base percentage at .568 and leading the league in slugging percentage at .914. Pineiro is fourth in the conference with a slugging percentage of .806 while checking in tied for eighth with a .375 batting average. Bascara also leads the team with 17 hits, 13 runs scored and 16 RBIs while Pineiro has a team high five homeruns on the season.
 
 
In the circle junior Mary Cate Scott, senior Alicia Aughton, and freshman McKenzie Peace have all contributed. Scott has an ERA of 2.62 which is the fourth lowest in the conference while recording 29 strikeouts on her way to a 4-2 record with two saves. Scott earned two wins over the weekend throwing 7.2 innings without allowing any runs and only four total baserunners. Aughton and Peace own 2-3 and 3-3 records respectively. Peace has thrown the most innings of the group at 39.0 while Scott and Aughton are close behind with 36.2 and 30.1 respectively.
 
Scouting the Wildcats
Villanova enters the midweek contest after grabbing two of three at Butler over the weekend. Prior to the series ending loss Villanova had won six straight games.
A pair of underclassmen are leading the way offensively for Villanova. Freshman Brittany Husk is hitting a team high .345 on the year and has scored 28 runs. Sophomore Lauren Herschberg is second on the team with a .341 average while leading the Wildcats with 20 RBIs on the year. As a team Villanova is hitting .270 and has hit 13 homeruns from eight different players.
Sophomore Brette Lawrence owns the best ERA on the team at 1.33 earning a 9-4 record with seven complete games and 74 strikeouts while issuing only 27 walks. Junior Kate Poppe has thrown the most innings for the Wildcats with 129.2 on the year earning an 8-12 record with a 2.86 ERA. She has struck out 161 batters while issuing 59 walks.
 
Scouting the Retrievers
UMBC enters the doubleheader after dropping two of three at Albany over the weekend. The Retrievers had kicked off conference play at 7-0 before dropping the final two games of the weekend set. Currently UMBC sits in second place in the America East.
Freshman shortstop Tori Alexander is off to a hot start batting .424 on the season. She also leads the team having scored 24 runs. Senior catcher Taylor Hall and sophomore third baseman Kaelin Jackson have driven in 24 and 20 RBIs respectively. They are tied for the team lead with ten total extra base hits and four homers on the year.
Sophomore Jessica Holte has done the majority of the work in the circle for UMBC. She owns a 10-6 record having thrown 104.1 innings while striking out 67 and walking only 10 on the year while owning a 1.95 ERA. Freshman Kim Puccio has stepped in the circle as well owning a 3-63 record in 51.1 innings including four complete games. She has struck out 37 batters on the year with a 3.55 ERA.

Scouting the Dragons
Drexel face Penn on Wednesday before heading to La Salle for their Thursday afternoon doubleheader. The Dragons have dropped three straight games after getting swept over the weekend by Hofstra.  
The Dragons are hitting .300 on the year as a team with five of their regular starters batting over .300. Senior Sylvia Llamas leads the way with a .408 average on the year. Senior Leticia Matsuoka and sophomore Vanessa Lightfoot lead the team with 19 and 18 runs scored respectively. Llamas has a team high 23 RBIs on the year while Matsuoka has 11 extra base hits on the season including five of Drexel's 13 homeruns.
Sophomore Taylor Lee has done the majority of the pitching for the Dragons. She owns a 2.04 ERA with a record of 10-9 in her 130.1 innings pitched. She has thrown 15 complete games while striking out 61 and issuing 20 walks. Opponents are hitting .306 off Dragon pitching on the year.

Up Next
The Explorers hit the road for a weekend series in Saint Louis as they face the Billikens in a doubleheader at noon on Saturday before wrapping up the series with a single game on Sunday at noon.