BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Campbell's softball team (29-24, 11-9 Atlantic
Sun) complete the 2011 regular season with three home games this
week. The Camels are scheduled to start the week with a single game
against North Carolina Central on April 25 at 6 p.m. CU will then
welcome in Longwood for a doubleheader on April 27 at 4 p.m.
Campbell went 2-2 last week with all four games in conference play.
The Camels did qualify for the 2011 Atlantic Sun Conference
Tournament with the wins over East Tennessee State on April 22. The
berth in the tournament is the sixth consecutive for Campbell's
softball program. The stretch continues the longest run Campbell
has put together since joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in 1995.
The berth is the eighth Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament berth
(1995, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) in school
history and the 15th time overall that a Campbell
softball team has made a conference tournament with six (1987,
1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) more selections when the team played
in the Big South Conference.Senior Amanda
Miller leads the team this season with her .331 batting
average, 36 RBIs, five triples and 86 total bases. She is tied for
the team lead with 12 doubles and 31 runs scored.
North Carolina Central (6-31) comes into the game after a full week
off. N.C Central has lost five games in a row though after being
swept by Bethune-Cookman on April 17. Sophomore Nadia Jefferies
leads the offensive attack for the Eagles with her .284 batting
average and eight stolen bases. Freshman Cember Carmichael has
driven in 18 runs and hit two home runs on her 25 hits. Sophomore
Kayla McPeek has won four games and thrown a team-high 112.1
innings on the season. Campbell leads the all-time series with the
Eagles by a 6-0. CU defeated N.C. Central by scores of 8-3 and 11-3
earlier this season on March 17. Senior Katie
Hinton had four hits, three runs scored and three RBIs in the
doubleheader for the Camels. Senior Katie
Woodcock struck out a career-high nine batters in the first
game win for CU. Senior Keeli
Michael tied two Campbell records in the second game with four
hits and three doubles.
Longwood (32-11) are red-hot and have won four in row and five of
the last six after a sweep of Penn State on April 24. Briana Wells
after two wins over the Nittany Lions is now 29-11 on the season
has pitched in all 43 games this season for the Lancers with 39
starts. Wells has thrown 257 innings and struck out 170 batters.
Fellow senior Brooke Short has hit 16 home runs, 49 RBIs and 55
hits on the season. Nichole Simmons is also hitting well with a
.331 batting average, 38 runs and 43 hits to go along with five
home runs and 18 RBIs. Longwood has several impressive wins on the
resume this season with victories over Notre Dame, Virginia,
Hawai'i, Virginia Tech, Liberty and Radford. Campbell holds a
slight 5-3 edge in the all-time series between the schools. The two
schools last met in 2009 and split the series in Farmville.
Campbell won the first game 10-0 as Brittany Stanley threw a
one-hit shutout. Senior Lauren
Stephan hit a three-run home run in the first game for the
Camels.
After this week, the Camels will have a few weeks to rest and
recuperate before the start of the 2011 Atlantic Sun Tournament on
May 11 in Spartanburg, S.C. CU will go in as either the fourth or
fifth seed and play against either USC Upstate, Kennesaw State,
Mercer or North Florida depending on the remaining results of the
regular season in the Atlantic Sun.
