No. 15 Softball Preps for 2019 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

Friday, May 10

Oklahoma City, OK

11 AM

Texas Tech Athletics

Kansas

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No. 15 Softball Preps for 2019 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

May 08, 2019 | Softball

Texas Tech enters the weekend as the No. 4 seed.

By: Texas Tech Athletics Communications

LUBBOCK, Texas – Hoping to carry over its momentum from a strong finish to the regular season, the No. 15 Texas Tech Softball Team is set to travel to Oklahoma City as the No. 4 seed in the 2019 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex on May 10-11.

The Red Raiders will face No. 6 Kansas (11 a.m.) and No. 1 Oklahoma (2 p.m.) in pool play on Friday, May 10. Dependent upon how the Red Raiders fair during pool play, they will play at either 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 11. Live stats, as well as broadcasts, will be available for all games.

2019 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
Dates	Friday-Saturday \| May 10-11
Site \| Location	USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex \| Oklahoma City, Okla.
Game 1 - Fri.	No. 6 Kansas \| 11 a.m. \| Field 3 \| Live Stats \| Flo Softball (Watch)
Game 2 - Fri.	No. 1 Oklahoma \| 2 p.m. \| Integris Field \| Live Stats \| FCS (Watch)
Game 3 - Sat.	TBD
Texas Tech Softball	Softball Home Page \| Game Notes (PDF) \| Twitter Tournament Central \| Bracket \| Big 12 Record Book

RED RAIDER QUICK HITS

Five Red Raiders received All-Big 12 Softball Awards on Wednesday, tying 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 38-13 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 .336 batting average this season and has started all 110 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 51 games at second base. Sophomore Breanna Russell has started every game of her career (110 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.
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 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 12 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, 11^th in slugging percentage, 14^th in scoring, 21^st in home runs per game, tied for 21^st in win/loss percentage and sit 24^th overall in fielding percentage.
Sophomore Erin Edmoundson continues to carry the load as she picked up her 18^th win of the season against No. 21 Kentucky on Sunday. With the win, 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 13 more home runs out of the park then they did in 58 games last season. Sophomore Trenity Edwards carries 14 of Tech's 63 homers and ties for third in the league, as well as 43^rd in the nation in her first season with the Red Raiders. Taylor Satchell follows closely behind with 10 homers and Jessica Hartwell has blasted nine. Karli Hamilton and Kelcy Leach each boast eight home runs Breanna Russell matched her season total from one year ago with five in 2019.
Tech is 15-24 overall at the Big 12 Conference Championship and the No. 4 Red Raiders enter this year's tournament with its highest seed since they played as the No. 3 seed in 2001. The Red Raiders are 7-10 in its tournament openers and are 7-20 when playing as the lower seed. Head coach Adrian Gregory is 2-4 at the league event.
At the Big 12 Conference Championship, the Red Raiders are 2-2 against the Jayhawks and 1-4 against Oklahoma.
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 ties for fourth and 11^th nationally in triples and hits and her .427 batting average ranks second in the league, 26^th in the nation and 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 12 in her three-year career.
The Red Raiders are 15-1 when playing at neutral sites this season and have outscored their opponents 329-161 through 51 games. Tech has scored first 34 times this season and the Red Raiders are 30-4 when doing so.

FINAL DETAILS
Tech's first game against No. 6 Kansas is set for 11 a.m. on Field 3 and the Red Raiders will wrap up the day with a 2 p.m. contest against No. 1 Oklahoma on Integris Field. Live stats will be available for both games and broadcasts will take place on Flo Softball (vs. Kansas) and FOX College Sports (vs. Oklahoma). Dependent upon how the Red Raiders fair during pool play, Tech will play at either 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 11. All-Session tickets for the Championship have sold out. If available, a limited number of single-session tickets will be sold on-site.

For all the latest information on the Texas Tech softball team, visit TexasTech.com or follow @TexasTechSB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.