MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of Montevallo softball team will host Georgia Southwestern in a midweek matchup on Feb. 20. The doubleheader will be Montevallo's home opener at Orr Park for the 2024 season.
Last Time Out
The Falcons are coming off a two-game sweep of Spring Hill College with the third game being rained out. Montevallo took the first game in eight innings by a score of 6-4. The Falcons would come back the next day were taken to extra innings for the second day in a row as Montevallo won 5-4 in nine innings.
How To Follow
Montevallo vs. Georgia Southwestern / Feb. 20 at 3:00 PM CT
Live Stats:
https://montevallofalcons.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary
Watch: Will be posted tomorrow
Montevallo vs. Georgia Southwestern / Feb. 20 at 5:00 PM CT
Live Stats:
https://montevallofalcons.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary
Watch: Will be posted tomorrow
About Montevallo
Hitting
Montevallo was able to put up nine runs in two games this weekend but they made every hit count. The Falcons put up two runs in the second inning with the first home run of the year off the bat of
Sydnee Reaves. After Spring Hill took the lead, UM was able to tie the game up in the seventh with a sacrifice fly from
Ariana Pinder. Pinder currently leads the Falcons with a .424 batting average while she has driven in five RBI.
Sydnee Reaves had a great weekend as she picked up two triples, a home run and six RBI. Reaves leads the Gulf South Conference with three triples on the season and she is 16
th with 10 RBI on the season.
In game two against Spring Hill, hits were hard to come by as both pitchers were on.
Ansley Hudson put the Falcons on top with an RBI ground out in the sixth. In extra innings,
Ariana Pinder came up clutch with a single to right to score two. After the Badgers tied the game up at 3-3 to send the game to the ninth,
Sydnee Reaves blasted a triple to score two. SHC was unable to match the Falcons in the bottom half to give UM the second game.
Pitching
The pitching staff was outstanding this week and a big part of it was two masterful outings by
Taylor Lloyd. Taylor totaled 10 innings, struck out nine batters and only allowed one earned run. Lloyd continues to prove she is one of the top pitchers in the GSC as she is sixth with 30 strikeouts, ninth with 30.2 innings pitched and has allowed the ninth lowest free passes.
Mya Young had a great relief outing for the Falcons as she picked up her first win at the Division II level. Mya pitched three innings as she allowed two earned runs before giving way to
Rachel Whiddon. Whiddon would slam the door by picking up her conference leading third save of the season.
Scouting Georgia Southwestern
The Hurricanes come in with a 6-6 record. The record is misleading as they have dropped games to ranked teams such as Mississippi College and Alabama-Huntsville.
Georgia Southwestern went 3-1 this past week in the Cougar-Hurricane Classic where they defeated Newberry College, Point University and Tusculum 8-0 but they dropped their final game against West Florida 19-9.
Zoe Willis leads the Hurricanes as she is batting .400 this season. Willis leads the team with four homers, 11 RBI, 13 walks, 12 hits and a slugging percentage of .967. Zoe is scorching hot currently as she had four home runs and 11 RBI the past week. As a team, GSW is batting .283 with 14 combined homers, 57 RBI and 33 extra base hits.
The Hurricanes have the seventh highest team ERA in the conference at 4.18. Savana Bradford has the most innings pitched on the team with 39 and she has an ERA of 4.13 with a WHIP of 1.38. Graceanne Spears leads the team in strikeouts with 28 in 26.1 innings pitched. Spears has the eighth lowest ERA in the Peach Belt Conference at 2.92.
The Falcons are 12-7 against Georgia Southwestern all-time but have dropped the last three meetings between the two. The Hurricanes were 3-1 against Montevallo last season with two games coming in neutral sites and two at home in Americus, Ga.
