Softball Takes Three-Game Winning Streak Into Wildcat Invitational Friday

Friday, March 1

Tucson, AZ

10:00 am

UC Riverside

Portland State

Photo by: Lorie Shore

Softball Takes Three-Game Winning Streak Into Wildcat Invitational Friday

2/26/2013 12:57:00 PM | Softball

Tucson, AZ—The UC Riverside Softball Team will ride a three-game winning streak into the Wildcat Invitational March 1-3, facing off against Portland State, #17/21 Arizona, and Boston University.

The Invitational gets underway Friday with a 10 am PT first pitch against Portland State, followed by a 3 pm match against the host Wildcats. On Saturday, the Highlanders play Boston at 10 am and square off against the Vikings at noon. The invitational concludes Sunday morning with an 8 am contest against the Terriers.

After dropping the first two games of the Amy S. Harrison Classic this past weekend, UC Riverside won its last three to improve to 5-9 on the year. The Highlanders offense is struggling, however, batting .216 while slugging .281.

Highlanders at Wildcat Invitational Game Capsules
	UC Riverside	Portland State	#17 Arizona	Boston University
2013 Record & Stats	5-9	4-11	10-5	1-4
	Roster	Roster	Roster	Roster
	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule
Conference	Big West	Big Sky	Pac-12	America East
Current Streak	W 3	L 6	L 1	L 4
Most Recent Box Score	W, 4-1 vs San Diego	L, 3-4 vs Arizona State	L, 3-0 vs LSU	L, 1-5 vs Wisconsin
Next Opponent	3/8 vs IUPUI	3/8 vs East Carolina	3/8 vs Boise State	3/8 vs Quinnipiac
Top Hitter	Marissa Escalante Freshman .333 BA	Lauran Bliss Freshman .316 BA	Hallie Wilson Sophomore .409 BA	Amy Ekart Junior .455 BA
Top Pitcher	Ashley Ercolano Freshman 3.59 ERA 1-4 Record	Anna Bertrand Senior 4.15 ERA 2-6 Record	Shelby Babcock Junior 2.78 ERA 5-2 Record	Whitney Tuthill Senior 3.15 ERA 1-2 Record
DI Record vs.		6-1	0-1	0-0
DI Current Streak vs.		W 2	L 1	First Meeting

Projected Highlanders Lineup
(By Position)
Pos	#	Name	Yr	B/T	Avg	OBP	SLG	H	RBI
C	6	Alexis Pickett	Sr.	L/R	.280	.419	.280	7	3
1B	17	Marissa Escalante	Fr.	R/R	.333	.463	.455	11	8
2B	3	Meagan Esteban	Fr.	L/R	.147	.194	.147	5	2
3B	16	Brittanie Akey	Fr.	R/R	.182	.229	.182	6	2
SS	20	Natalie Sanchez	Fr.	R/R	.138	.324	.172	4	0
RF	19	Dionne Anderson	Jr.	L/R	.306	.395	.361	11	5
CF	4	Kayla White	Sr.	R/R	.205	.222	.364	9	3
LF	7	Ariel Shore	Sr.	L/R	.209	.244	.279	9	0
DP	9	Ashley Ercolano	Fr.	R/R	.229	.325	.371	8	8

GAME NOTES
WALK THIS WAY
Ashley Ercolano hit a three-RBI walk-off home run for UCR in its win against Weber State on February 23. The last Highlanders player to record a walk-off is Kaylie Atkinson, who drilled a shot against Idaho State on Feb. 25, 2012.

GONE STREAKING
UC Riverside has won three straight games for the first time this season. Last year, the Highlanders accumulated four streaks of three or more wins.

OFF TO THE RACES
The Highlanders won their 2013 season opener against Southern Miss on February 8—the first season-opening victory since 2007.

FEELING A LITTLE RANK
UCR faced off against three ranked opponents in consecutive games at the Campbell/Cartier Classic on February 15-17—the most ranked opponents the team has faced in a row since a three-game series against #21 Cal Poly on May 8-9, 2009.

ERROR MESSAGE
UC Riverside committed five errors in its loss against Fresno State on Feb. 8, the most since April 16, 2011 when the Highlanders recorded six errors.

BREAKING RECORDS
UCR finished the 2012 season with a 25-28 overall record, setting a new program Division I mark for most wins in a season and for best winning percentage.

Best Winning Pct. (DI)
.472	2012
.449	2006
.407	2010

Most Wins (DI)
25 x	2012
22	2006
22	2010

BRINGING OUT THE BROOMS
The Highlanders sweep of Cal State Northridge on May 5-6, 2012 was the first such sweep over the Matadors in the team's Division I history. The sweep was also the first for UCR in conference play since taking a three-game series from Sacramento State on May 4-5, 2002.

SHOWING NO MERCY
UCR won six games last year by the eight-run mercy-rule—the most times in the program's DI history. This season, they’ve already won one game by the mercy rule, but have been mercy ruled four times by opponents.

BATTER UP
UCR finished the 2012 season with a team batting average of .281— the highest single-season average in the team's Division I history, besting the 2011 squad with a .276 batting average.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The Highlanders stole 73 bases in 2012, 10 more than the program's previous DI record of 63 set in 2011. UCR already has 27 stolen bases in 2013.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The Highlanders won 13 games in 2011, but nearly doubled that win total in 2012 with 25 victories.

OFF THE CHARTS
UC Riverside's 16 runs against Eastern Kentucky on March 7, 2012 are the most in the Division I history of the program for a single-game total. The previous high was 15, set at Utah State on May 3, 2003.

CONFERENCE DIVAS
The Highlanders led the Big West Conference last season in triples, stolen bases, and steal attempts while ranking second in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and RBI. On the national scale, UC Riverside ranked 12th in double plays per game and 44th in both triples per game and stolen bases per game.

COACHING CHANGES
UC Riverside welcomes an entirely new coaching staff to the dugout in 2013. Head Coach Linda Garza was hired in June to lead the program, and named Jodie Cox and Chez Sievers as assistant coaches and Morgan Stuart as a volunteer coach.

ALL-BIG WEST
Four UC Riverside players were selected to the Big West All-Conference Team last season, with outfielder Kayla White garnering All-Big West First-Team awards while Alexis Pickett was selected to the Second Team, and Ariel Shore and Kaylie Atkinson both received Honorable Mention accolades.