No. 15 Softball Opens NCAA Run Against Louisiana Tech

Friday, May 17

Baton Rouge, LA

2 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

Louisiana Tech

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No. 15 Softball Opens NCAA Run Against Louisiana Tech

May 15, 2019 | Softball

The Red Raiders will take on the Lady Techsters before facing either Monmouth or No. 10 LSU.

By: Texas Tech Athletics Communications

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 15 Texas Tech softball team is set to make its sixth NCAA appearance this weekend at the 2019 Baton Rouge Regional. The Red Raiders will open up the regional with a 2 p.m. game against Louisiana Tech on May 17 at the campus of LSU.

From there, the Red Raiders will face either Monmouth or the No. 10 LSU Tigers on May 18. Live stats and a live stream on ESPN3 will be available for all games this weekend.

2019 Baton Rouge NCAA Regional
Dates	Friday-Sunday \| May 17-19
Site \| Location	Tiger Park \| Baton Rouge, La.
Friday	vs. Louisiana Tech \| 2 p.m. \| Live Stats \| Watch
Saturday	TBD
Sunday	TBD
Regional Info	Tickets \| Parking Info \| Bracket \| Clear Bag Policy Louisiana Tech Game Notes \| LSU Game Notes \| Monmouth Game Notes
Texas Tech Softball	Softball Home Page \| Game Notes \| Twitter

RED RAIDER QUICK HITS

Five Red Raiders received All-Big 12 Softball Awards and the team tied a program-high six awards this season. Junior Karli Hamilton highlighted Tech's five award winners as a unanimous All-Big 12 First-Team selection and a trio of Red Raiders – Peyton Blythe, Heaven Burton and Jessica Hartwell – earned second-team recognition. Blythe and fellow newcomer Zoe Jones capped the team's conference awards with an appearance on the All-Freshman Team.
Head Adrian Gregory has led the Red Raiders to a 39-14 overall record – her best record since taking over the program in 2015 and Tech's best mark since going 41-17 in 2012. Coincidentally, Tech's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2012.
After tying for the No. 1 spot in the Tech record book, sophomore Breanna Russell became the Red Raiders' single-season leader with six sacrifice flies. Russell, who has seen a drastic improvement at the plate since hitting .189 last season, has posted eight sacrifice flies in her career – six of which have come this season. The Crosby, Texas, native holds a .331 batting average this season and has started all 112 games of her young career at third base.
The Red Raiders finished the Big 12 Conference season with an 8-10 record. They posted conference series wins over Iowa State, Baylor and Kansas and took one game away from the Texas Longhorns. Finishing fourth in the league, the team tied head coach Adrian Gregory's highest finish since occupying the No. 4 spot in 2015.
Five Red Raiders have started every single game at their respective positions this season. Freshman Zoe Jones has produced both offensively and defensively and has started all 53 games at second base. Sophomore Breanna Russell has started every game of her career (112 games) at third base and senior Taylor Satchell has taken over as Tech's everyday shortstop. Two-thirds of Tech's outfield has remained consistent throughout the season, as Heaven Burton and Karli Hamilton have started every game at left and center field, respectively.
The Red Raiders are 10-10 when playing the NCAA Tournament and 2-3 in tournament openers. The Red Raiders have never faced Louisiana Tech, Monmouth or LSU in a postseason setting.
Playing with young talent, Tech only fields two seniors on the 2019 squad. Senior veterans Jessica Hartwell and Taylor Satchell have started every game and the only other starting upperclassman is junior Karli Hamilton in center field. Senior Kiana Workman went down in the beginning of the season with a foot injury and transfer Missy Zoch is the only other junior who consistently sees time on the field.
Seven student-athletes from the Texas Tech softball team earned 2019 Academic All-Big 12 status on Thursday, May 2. Five Red Raiders took home first-team honors while two student-athletes were represented on the second team. Kiana Workman was the lone senior on the first team and Karli Hamilton represented Tech's junior class. Three sophomores – Erin Edmoundson, Breanna Russell and Olga Zamarripa – rounded out Tech's first-team honors. The first-team nod was the second of Hamilton's career and the first for Edmoundson, Russell and Zamarripa. Jessica Hartwell earned the fourth Big 12 academic award of her career with an appearance on the second team and sophomore Kelcy Leach earned her first academic honor as Tech's other second-teamer.
After writing her name atop the Texas Tech record book for the second time this season, Jessica Hartwell added onto her record as Tech's career home run leader with a three-run home run to help the Red Raiders top No. 21 Kentucky in her last at-bat at Rocky Johnson Field. Hartwell tied Mikey Kenney's (2010-13) record of 45 career home runs on March 8, 2019, and she claimed sole possession of the title against Oklahoma State on Saturday, April 27. Hartwell hit a single-season record 20 home runs as a junior in 2018 and is Tech's all-time leader with 48 home runs and 166 career RBI.
The Red Raiders snapped a 21-year-old record of nine straight weeks in the Top 25 and have remained among the nation's leaders for 13 consecutive weeks. Tech's 1998 squad set the initial record after being ranked for nine consecutive weeks from March 18 – May 13. The Red Raiders went 45-19 under former head coach Renee Luers-Gillespie and finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference with a 10-7 record. The Red Raiders tied the record in 2011 after being ranked from Feb. 15 – May 24. Under the direction of then-head coach Shanon Hays, Tech finished the year with a 42-16 overall record and made its fourth-ever NCAA Regional appearance in Tucson, Ariz., despite finishing eighth in the Big 12. This week, Tech came in at No. 15 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, No. 18 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and Softball America Polls, as well as 19 in the NCAA Women's Softball RPI.
As a team, Tech ranks in top 25 in seven different categories The Red Raiders are ninth in batting average and on base percentage, 10th in slugging percentage, 14th in scoring, 22^nd in triples per game, tied for 23^rd in win/loss percentage and 24^th in the nation in home runs per game. Tech also ranks 29^th overall in fielding percentage and 40^th in steals per game.
Sophomore Erin Edmoundson continues to carry the load as she picked up her 19th win of the season against Kansas at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. She eclipsed her 17-win mark from last year and moved into fifth in Tech's single-season history. She sits behind Cara Custer and Red Raider great Amanda Renfro, who holds the No. 1, 3 and 4 spots. Renfro collected 34 wins in 2001, 23 in 1998 and 21 in 1999, while Custer ground out a second-best 25 victories in 2012.
The Red Raiders have sent 14 more home runs out of the park then they did in 59 games last season. Sophomore Trenity Edwards carries 14 of Tech's 63 homers and ties for fourth in the league in her first season with the Red Raiders. Taylor Satchell follows closely behind with 10 homers while Kelcy Leach and Jessica Hartwell have blasted nine. Karli Hamilton boasts eight home runs and Breanna Russell matched her season total from one year ago with five in 2019.
Continuing a phenomenal junior season, Karli Hamilton led the Big 12 during the regular season with 73 hits and a single-season record seven triples. She earned Big 12 Player of the Week recognition three times this season and was one of five Red Raiders honored on the Academic All-Big 12 First Team last week. The Houston native ranks fourth and ties for 15^th national in triples and hits and her .424 batting average ranks second in the league, ties for 24^th in the nation and is second all-time in Tech's single-season history. Hamilton led all hitters in league play with 29 hits and a .460 batting average. She leads the Red Raiders with 24 multi-hit games and went on a team-best 22 reached-base streak from Mar. 15–Apr. 30. Hamilton posted eight home runs, including a grand slam, during the regular season and ranked in the league's top five in runs scored (54), steals (13), total bases (121), on base percentage (.484). Additionally, Hamilton cracked the program's career triples record and leads all Red Raiders with 13 in her three-year career.
The Red Raiders are 16-2 when playing at neutral sites this season and have outscored their opponents 336-172 through 53 games. Tech has scored first 35 times this season and the Red Raiders are 31-4 when doing so.
Tech has made it to the NCAA Softball Tournament five times prior to this season. Their first appearance in the tournament dates back to 1999 when the team went 3-2 at the Fresno Regional. The Red Raiders' next appearance was two years later at the 2001 Tucson Regional and the team went 2-2. Tech went on an eight-season hiatus from the tournament but made its third-ever trip to the tournament in 2010 at the Stanford Regional. The team went 2-2 at the event and posted the same mark one year later at the 2011 Tucson Regional. Tech's most recent appearance in the tournament was in 2012 and the Red Raiders went 1-2 in the Seattle Regional.
Offensively, the Red Raiders have hit 47 of their 64 home runs off of non-big 12 opponents. Thirty-four of the team's homers have come off Top-75 RPI teams and 16 home runs have happened at neutral-site games.
Dropping just three games to non-conference opponents, the Red Raiders enter the weekend with a 30-3 record against non-conference opponents in 2019.

THE OPPONENTS
Louisiana Tech (44-14, 19-5 C-USA)
The Lady Techsters head into the Baton Rouge Regional with a stout 44-14 overall record. The winners of the Conference USA Tournament, LA Tech boasts seven all-conference selections – four first-teamers and three second-teamers – as well as C-USA Player of the Year Jazlyn Crowder. Following an F3 tornado that rocked the city of Ruston, the Lady Techsters have responded with an 8-1 record post-tornado. LA Tech has posted notable wins against then-ranked No. 17 Auburn, UTEP and North Texas. The Lady Techsters are led by Mark Montgomery in his seventh year as head coach of the program.

LSU (40-16, 14-10 SEC)
Hosting the Regional, No. 1 seeded LSU enters the weekend with a 40-16 mark. Ranked No. 10 in the nation, the Tigers finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second place in the SEC. LSU picked up seven All-SEC honors, posted 14 wins over Top 25 RPI teams and ground our 21 wins over top-50 teams. LSU sits 22^nd in the nation with a .313 batting average as well as eighth overall in on base percentage. Head coach Beth Torina leads the Tigers in her eighth year as head coach.

Monmouth (36-16, 16-4 MAAC)
The Hawks roll into Baton Rouge with a 36-16 overall record after capturing their second straight MAAC Championship. Monmouth shared a piece of the MAAC regular-season title and five student-athletes were named to an All-MAAC team following the regular season. Sophomore Alyssa Irons has racked up an impressive 30-10 record and was named the MAAC Pitcher of the Year while freshman Lindsey Baron was named the MAAC Co-Rookie of the Year. The Hawks are under the direction of Shannon Salsburg, who is in her fourth season as head coach of the program.

FINAL DETAILS
First pitch against Louisiana Tech is slated for 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17, at Tiger Park. Schedule updates will be made available as information is received. For all the latest information on the Texas Tech softball team, visit TexasTech.com or follow @TexasTechSB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.