Photo Courtesy of Sun Belt Conference
NEW ORLEANS – A matchup of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the standings highlighted an eventful weekend of Sun Belt Conference softball as teams fight for standings position with less than a month remaining until the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship beginning on May 7.
Georgia State’s Taylor Anderson was named the Sun Belt Conference Softball Player of the Week while UT Arlington’s Callie Collins earned Pitcher of the Week honors.
The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Sun Belt softball standings met last weekend as the top team and No. 18/20-ranked UL Lafayette hosted second-place and No. 15/16-ranked South Alabama. The Ragin’ Cajuns and Jaguars split the opening day doubleheader with UL Lafayette taking the first game 6-2 and South Alabama responding with an 8-4 win. The series came down to a Sunday afternoon showdown which entered the third inning tied. UL Lafayette sophomore Lexie Elkins delivered a decisive two-run home run to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to the series win and the top spot in the conference standings.
Georgia State used a series sweep of Texas State to leap into fourth place in the standings. Anderson did her part by hitting .533 for the week, going 8-for-15, including four home runs. She opened the week by reaching safely in all five plate appearances. She was 2-for-2 and drew three walks. She hit two solo homers, scored three runs and recorded two RBI in a 10-5 win at Georgia Tech on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Anderson recorded one hit in a 5-2 loss at Georgia Southern.
In the first game against Texas State on Saturday, she was 2-for-4 with a solo home run, two runs scored and one RBI. Anderson reached safely in all three at-bats in game two against Texas State. She went 1-for-1, drew two walks and scored twice in a 10-2 win in five innings. She finished the week with a 2-for-4 performance in a 3-2 win to sweep Texas State. She scored two of Georgia State’s three runs and hit a solo homer to finish with one RBI. She leads the team with 11 home runs this season.
UT Arlington also improved its spot in the standings by tying Troy for seventh place. The Mavericks split against Troy last week. Senior Callie Collins went 2-0 last week for the Mavericks pitching two complete games. In 13 innings Collins, gave up just one run off of four hits, while striking out 11 batters. The one run came in a 2-1 Maverick victory. Collins helped her team shutout Abilene Christian in a mid-week game allowing no runs with four strikeouts.
Conference play continues next weekend as teams begin the final stretch to the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship. All eight teams will advance to the conference tournament held May 7-10 in Lafayette, La., on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
