Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Continue Road Swing at UT Arlington Invitational
February 19, 2015 | Softball
Ashley Fultz will play near her hometown of Flower Mound this weekend as the Red Raiders head to the UT Arlington Invitational. Texas Tech will play a total of five games this weekend beginning with a 4:30 p.m. doubleheader Friday against DePaul and the host Mavericks.
Feb. 19, 2015
LEADING OFF...
? This is the third of four-straight weekends on the road to start the season for the Red Raiders, who will travel to McNeese State for the Cowgirl Classic held Feb. 27-March 1. The Red Raiders host their home opener March 6 with a doubleheader against Utah Valley and UT Martin.
? Texas Tech will be taking part in the UT Arlington Invitational for a second-straight season as the Red Raiders went 4-1 in the tournament a year ago with wins over UMKC, Illinois, Creighton and the host Mavericks.
? The Red Raiders are coming off a 3-3 performance last weekend at the CenturyLink Classic hosted by Texas State. Texas Tech downed UTSA twice in the tournament but managed to take only 1-of-3 games against the host Bobcats while also falling to Grand Canyon.
? Texas Tech fans in attendance at Friday's 7 p.m. first pitch against UT Arlington will recognize a familiar face in Mavericks head coach Kristie Fox, who spent three seasons (2010-12) as an assistant coach with the Red Raiders before taking over at UTA prior to the 2013 campaign.
? The Red Raiders will face a DePaul program twice this weekend that was ranked 25th in the preseason NFCA/ESPN.com top-25 poll. The Blue Demons fell out of the poll after a 3-7 start to their season.
INSIDE THE SERIES
DEPAUL
Texas Tech and DePaul have become regular non-conference opponents in recent years as Friday's tournament opener will mark the fourth-straight season the two schools have faced each other on a softball diamond. This will be only the fifth all-time meeting between Texas Tech and DePaul as the series is tied 2-2 entering this weekend. The Red Raiders have won two of the last three meetings with the Blue Demons with a 2-1 victory on Feb. 19, 2012, and then a 6-5 win on March 14 last year. DePaul claimed a 5-3 victory in the first ever meeting between the two schools on March 16, 2002, before defeating Tech, 5-1, on Feb. 10, 2013. All four games have been played at a neutral site, similar to this weekend's action in Arlington.
UT ARLINGTON
Texas Tech enters Friday night's meeting with tournament host UT Arlington looking to extend an eight-game winning streak over the Mavericks. This will be the first of two meetings between Tech and UTA this year as the two schools will also meet in Lubbock on March 8 to close the Texas Tech Invitational. The Red Raiders are 10-4 all-time against a UTA program that has not defeated Tech since scoring a 5-3 victory in the first game of an April 22, 2008, doubleheader in Lubbock. This will be Tech's fourth trip all-time to Arlington to face UTA as the Red Raiders are 3-1 all-time in those games. The two schools have met a total of seven times since the start of the 2010 season, including twice in 2014 alone. The Red Raiders topped UTA 4-1 in Arlington last season before dowing the Mavericks, 8-1, on March 6 later in the year.
UMKC
UMKC has become a familiar non-conference foe for the Red Raiders in recent years as this will be the 11th time the two schools have faced each other since 2010. The Red Raiders control a commanding 11-1 overall lead in the all-time series with UMKC with the only loss coming in the first ever meeting between the two schools, a 3-2 setback on March 4, 2000. Tech has won 11-straight contests since that lost with six of those ending via run-rule. The Red Raiders are 5-1 all-time against UMKC in neutral-site contests after recording a 13-5 rout of the `Roos in the season-opening Lions Classic and then a 5-4 victory in the UTA Hilton Invitational a year ago.
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
Texas Tech will be facing Prairie View A&M for the second time in school history Saturday evening. Prairie View won the only other meeting between the two schools with a 7-5 victory on Feb. 21, 2004, during the Mardi Gras Classic hosted by Louisiana Lafayette.
RED RAIDERS STAYING AGGRESSIVE ON THE BASE PATHS
Since taking over the Texas Tech softball program last summer, Adrian Gregory has insisted she wants the Red Raiders to be aggressive in every aspect of the game - pitching, hitting and on the base paths. Through two weekends, that philosphy can best be seen on the base paths where the Red Raiders have stolen 18 bases, third most currently in the Big 12. Tech leads the conference with 26 stolen base attempts as nine different Red Raiders have swiped a bag this year.
BETTIOL TIED FOR THE BIG 12 LEAD IN HITS AFTER TWO WEEKS
Jordan Bettiol's impact on the Texas Tech lineup has been significant over the first two weeks of the season as the Nebraska transfer is hitting a team-leading .400 overall through 11 games. Bettiol began her Red Raider career with hits in each of Tech's first nine games of the season where she recorded a team-leading four multiple-hit games. The College Station, Texas native heads to the UT Arlington Invitational this weekend tied for the Big 12 lead with 14 hits this year. She is tied with Brittany Gomez (Iowa State), Lauren Chamberlain (Oklahoma) and Linsey Cargill (Baylor).
WARNECKE PROVIDES POWER IN MIDDLE OF THE LINEUP
Brittany Warnecke has pretty much solidified herself in the middle of the Texas Tech lineup through the first two weeks of the season as the sophomore leads the Red Raiders with three home runs and 12 RBI through the first 11 games of the season. Warnecke connected on two home runs and seven RBI alone last weekend during the CenturyLink Classic as she went deep in both games against UTSA. In addition to her power numbers, Warnecke, who recorded just one home run and three RBI as a freshman in 2014, is hitting .333 for the season which currently ranks second on the team.
