BUSY WEEKEND: The UAH softball team is set for five games in four days as the Chargers will welcome non-conference foe Tuskegee to Charger Park for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Thursday before heading to rival North Alabama with both Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's single game slated for 2 p.m. starts. The Chargers enter the five-game stretch at 23-9 (13-5 Gulf South Conference).
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AROUND THE GSC: UAH moved to within one game of first place last week as Valdosta State is now 14-4 in the league while the Chargers are 13-5. UNA, however, is just one game behind UAH at 12-6 and tied for third with Mississippi College. A pair of teams – West Florida and Lee – are also tied for fifth at 11-7 – while Shorter dropped from a tie for second last week to seventh in the standings at 10-8.
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RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Chargers made it two straight GSC series sweeps as the team won all three games against Shorter in Huntsville. UAH won both the first game and the finale by 5-2 scores while winning the middle contest of the series by a 4-0 score.
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MILESTONE APPROACHING: The UAH softball program and head coach
Les Stuedeman are on the brink of a significant milestone as Stuedeman – UAH's only softball coach in its history – currently owns 997 career victories.
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LEADOFF PRODUCTION: The top of the UAH batting lineup this year – a spot that has been filled at various times by
Haley Thompson, Regan Malone,
Shannon Long,
Caroline Burns, and
Bridgette Wilson – is hitting at a .373 clip, with the top three positions in the order hitting .366 on the season. Of the team's 162 RBI on the year, 73 of them – or 45 percent – have come from the top three positions in the lineup.
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FRESH FACES MAKING AN IMPACT: Two of the team's top four in RBI production this season are freshmen as Malone is third on the team with 18 while
Brooke Miller has driven in 17. Of the team's six triples on the year, five have been from freshmen with Malone and
Shannon Long both having a pair while
Ashley Cornell has one as well, and Malone is second on the squad with seven doubles on the year.
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ABOUT TUSKEGEE: The Golden Tigers are 1-19 on the year with Sharde Thomas leading the way offensively batting .500 with 10 doubles, three triples, and two home runs. In the circle, Karisa Foye has a team-low 3.07 ERA.
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SERIES HISTORY: After an 11-0 win on the season's first weekend in Gulf Shores, the Chargers are now 9-1 all-time against the Golden Tigers. Last year the two teams met in Huntsville with the Chargers winning 8-0 and 12-0 in a doubleheader.
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ABOUT NORTH ALABAMA: The defending national champions are 22-10 on the year and just behind the Chargers at 12-6 in conference play, and interestingly the squad is 5-6 at home compared to a 10-2 road mark. Shelby Woodard leads the team with a .412 average at the plate, while both Marissa Hancock and Anna Gayle Norris has five home runs and tie for the team lead with 21 RBI. The team features a staff ERA of 2.41 with Hillary Carpenter owning a 12-4 record and a 1.38 ERA.
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SERIES HISTORY: This weekend will mark the 89th, 90th, and 91st meetings between the two teams, and UAH is 62-42 all-time against the Lions. Last season, UNA took two of the three regular season meetings and then won in back-to-back games at the South 1 Regional after UAH had taken an earlier meeting in the tournament.
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