The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Coastal Carolina
Softball preview: at Coastal Carolina & the Charleston Invitational [March 15-18, 2018]
03.14.2018 | Softball
The Longhorns continue their annual "Spring Break Trip" with visits to Conway and Charleston, S.C.
Texas Game Notes vs. Coastal Carolina and at the Charleston Invitational
TEXAS (9-11) at Coastal Carolina (14-10) and the Charleston Invitational | March 15-18 | Conway & Charleston, S.C.
Schedule:
Thurs., March 15
5 p.m. CT TEXAS at Coastal Carolina
CHARLESTON INVITATIONAL
Fri., March 16
12:15 p.m. CT TEXAS vs. Eastern Illinois
Sat., March 17
12:15 p.m. CT TEXAS vs. Jacksonville State
2:30 p.m. CT TEXAS at College of Charleston
Sun., March 18
9 a.m. CT TEXAS vs. Georgetown
Location: Conway, S.C. (Coastal Carolina Softball Stadium) & Charleston S.C. (CofC Softball Stadium)
Ticket Information: at Coastal Carolina – LINK; at the Charleston Invitational - LINK
Live Stats: at Coastal Carolina – LINK; vs. Eastern Illinois – LINK; vs. Jacksonville State – LINK; at College of Charleston – LINK; vs. Georgetown - LINK
Television: Thursday's game at Coastal Carolina will be broadcast via video web stream and is accessible with a paid subscription fee here: LINK – Saturday's game at College of Charleston will be broadcast via free video web stream here: LINK
Radio: Texas' games are slated for radio broadcast via FREE web stream with Andrew Haynes on the call at this LINK. SATURDAY'S TWO GAMES WILL BE BROADCAST ON 101.9 FM & AM 1260 IN AUSTIN. The remaining Texas broadcasts can be heard locally in Austin on 105.3 FM in the local and surrounding areas, part of the Austin Radio Network supported by the flagship radio station of the Longhorns, 104.9 FM The Horn.
Base Knocks:
- In her 23rd season (22nd as varsity coach) as Texas head coach, Connie Clark is quickly closing in on another milestone. She now owns 849 career wins, needing just one more to reach the 850-victory mark. She currently ranks #25 on the list of winningest active coaches (at four-year colleges) with at least five years of NCAA Division I experience.
- Texas will be facing Coastal Carolina, Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State, College of Charleston and Georgetown for the first time in program history over the remainder of its annual "Spring Break Trip."
- Texas junior outfielder Kay Kay Hayter seems to be settling in at the No. 2 spot in the UT line-up. Over the Longhorns' last eight contests, the Nacogdoches, Texas, native is batting .391 (9-for-23) with a team-leading nine hits and four stolen bases. Over her first 12 games with the squad, she hit just .130 with three hits and a single steal.
- Redshirt junior pitcher Erica Wright is currently riding a streak of 9.0 straight scoreless innings dating back to Feb. 23 vs. Wichita State.
- Texas' schedule has been absolutely brutal so far in 2018 with 14 of its 20 games coming against teams ranked or receiving votes in the national polls. UT is just 5-9 in those contests, but owns wins over No. 9/8 Arizona & No. 20 Michigan and lost to No. 1 Washington (2-1) and No. 18/17 South Carolina (1-0, 8 inn.) by a single run.
- Longhorns freshman second baseman Janae Jefferson seems to be averse to the strikeout as the Humble, Texas, native has yet to K this season over 70 total plate appearances and currently ranks in the tie with 12 other players as the "toughest player to strikeout in all of NCAA Division I softball."
- Texas freshman third baseman MK Tedder is making a habit of showing tremendous patience at the plate. So far through 20 games, the Hoover, Ala., native has drawn a team-leading 13 walks and ranks in a tie for fourth in the category in the Big 12 Conference. All that patience has also helped lead to a Texas-leading on-base percentage of .421.
- Texas has had much of its success this season hitting with two outs in an inning. In all, the Longhorns have scored 28 of their 54 total runs (52%) and registered 24 of their 46 total RBIs (52%) with two outs in a frame.
- Texas sophomore infielder Malory Schattle is turning into quite the dependable threat off the bench in 2018 as the Salado, Texas, native is 3-for-5 (.600) in pinch-hit appearances thus far this season with pinch hits against No. 15/18 Ole Miss, Houston (double) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She owns half of UT's six overall pinch hits in 2018.
- Out-hitting the opposition has proven to be a predictor of success thus far for the Longhorns in 2018 as Texas is 8-1 when tallying more hits, 0-8 when out-hit by an opponent and 1-2 when the hits are tied.
- Look out for the Longhorns during the third inning as Texas has posted 17 of its 54 (31%) total tallies in the frame over their first 20 games of 2018, almost twice as many as in the next most prolific inning (second - 10 runs).
- Three appears to be the magic number relating to wins for Texas this season as the Longhorns are 8-3 when holding opponents to fewer than three runs and 1-8 when the opposition scores three or more runs.
- Texas will look to have more success this season in one-run games than it did during 2017 as the Longhorns went just 4-12 last year in contests decided by a single tally. In all, Texas finished the year by dropping 12 of its last 13 one-run contests with the only win over that stretch coming in a 2-1 (8 inn.) victory over Houston (April 2). With a 2-1 loss to No. 1 Washington (Feb. 21), a 3-2 win over Virginia Tech (Feb. 24), a 1-0 triumph at UTSA (March 7) and a 1-0 (8 inn.) loss at #18/17 South Carolina, Texas is 2-2 in such contests this year but has now lost 14 of its last 17 one-run games dating back to 2017.
