NATCHITOCHES, La. – Winning six of its last seven games, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team will take its hot streak on the road to Northwestern State to try for its third consecutive series win this weekend at Lady Demon Diamond.
Friday's doubleheader will be played under the lights as game one is slated for 4 p.m. Game three has first pitch set for Saturday at noon. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The Islanders (20-16, 8-7 SLC) are coming off their second consecutive conference series win after taking the rubber match against Lamar 5-1. A&M-Corpus Christi has won game three in every conference series this year.
A&M-Corpus Christi has not possessed a losing record for more than a day this year with the 20-16 record. They also got to winning record in conference play (8-7) for the first time after winning the series 2-1 over Lamar.
Junior
Primrose Aholelei, the reigning SLC Pitcher of the Week, earned the two wins in the circle including a complete game shutout in game one. It brought her win-total to 15 which leads the conference. Aholelei also struck out 14 batters in her two appearances and now records 129 on the year, another conference best.
In her last five appearances, Aholelei has posted a 0.64 ERA through 33.0 innings pitched. They have all been complete games while three have been shutouts. In the national rankings
, she is ranked 12th in shutouts (6), 19th in innings pitched (148.0), 22nd in victories, and 45th in strikeouts. She became the first pitcher in the Southland to throw 100 innings and second to strikeout 100.
The Islanders currently have seven batters hitting above .250 and ten above .200. Last year, A&M-Corpus Christi only had two players hit above .250. Senior
Gabriella Torres leads it with a .316 as the only hitter to average above .300., also leading the team in slugging percentage at .491. Juniors
Sidney Campion and
Kimane Rogron are the only two players to have played in all 36 games this season.
Northwestern State (21-19, 7-8 SLC) has won conference series over HCU and Nicholls, and like the Islanders, has won at least one game in each series. The Lady Demons are led at the plate by junior Makenzie Chaffin with a .336 batting average. In the circle, Maggie Darr records a 2.85 ERA and was the fourth pitcher in the Southland to pitched at least 100 innings with 103.0 currently.
Aholelei and Darr are the only two pitchers in the conference to have thrown 100 innings and recorded 100 strikeouts.
Northwestern State leads A&M-Corpus Christi 19-16 in the all-time record, though, the Islanders took last year's series 2-1 over the Lady Demons. The last time the teams met was in an elimination game in the 2022 SLC Tournament where the Islanders won the 4-3 decision to knock out Northwestern State.
The weekend will onset back-to-back road series for the Islanders who will head to McNeese the following week. A&M-Corpus Christi will then close out the regular season at home against UIW May 5-6.
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Softball, keep up with the team via their Facebook page (
Islanders Softball) and follow the program on Twitter (
@IslandersSball) and Instagram (
islanderssball).
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