JACKSON, Tenn. | The Tuskegee University softball team returns to action here Saturday afternoon facing Lane College in a key Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) series.
First pitch for the series is set for 12 noon on Saturday in a doubleheader, followed by a single game at 1 pm on Sunday.
Tuskegee (10-27, 8-4 SIAC) is at the midpoint in the conference season and are currently tied for second (with tournament-eligible) teams in West Division, although they own the tiebreaker with Stillman having won the series earlier this season. The series with Lane marks the first of four conference series in 16 days for the Lady Golden Tigers, including matchups with Miles and Kentucky State.
The Lady Golden Tigers look to end a five-game winning streak and a streak that includes losses in seven of the last nine games, after having a six-game winning streak in mid-March.
Sharde Thomas leads the Lady Golden Tigers in hitting, and is second in the conference, at .495 this season with eight extra-base hits.
Kaylin Finch, who sat out the second game of the doubleheader with West Alabama on Wednesday, is second on the team in hitting at .324. Finch is second on the team in homeruns (three) and runs batted in (18), trailing
Jamaica Williams by just one in each category.
Finch (4-9) leads the Lady Golden Tigers on the mound with a 4.41 earned run average with 12 complete games. Senior
Karisa Foye (1-5) is second on the team with a 4.73 earned run average.
Although Tuskegee trails their opponents statistically, their conference statistics speak for themselves after having played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. The Lady Golden Tigers are hitting .332 compared to their opponents .231 average, and have outscored their conference opponents 76-39. They have also outhit their opponents 102 to 65 this season in conference play, and have recorded a 3.70 earned run average against SIAC opponents.
The Lady Golden Tigers will look to improve on a few trends heading into the weekend as they are 8-4 when leading after four innings, 9-3 when leading after five and 7-0 when leading after six innings. They are also 5-1 when not making an error, and are 8-3 when they outhit their opponents.
The magic number for Tuskegee is 2 or more runs as they are 7-3 when holding their opponents to two or fewer runs, and are 8-1 when scoring six-plus runs themselves this season.
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