FINAL HOMESTAND: The No. 23 UAH softball team will have its final regular season homestand this week, welcoming Miles for a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Wednesday before hosting North Alabama in a three-game set this weekend, starting with a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and ending with a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday. The Chargers enter the week at 31-12 (21-8 Gulf South Conference).
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#NoOneFightsAlone: On Wednesday, both teams will wear teal socks in support of those fighting ovarian cancer, particularly Alex Wilcox of Mississippi State's softball program where head coach
Les Stuedeman's sister Vann is the head coach.
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LAST TIME OUT: UAH picked up a series sweep in its final road trip of the regular season, beating Union by scores of 5-2, 7-2, and 6-1 while pushing its winning streak to five games, and the Chargers have now won eight of their last 10 games.
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AROUND THE GSC: The field for the GSC tournament is all but set as seven teams have berths locked up heading into this weekend: North Alabama, Valdosta State, UAH, Mississippi College, Montevallo, West Florida and Delta State. The Chargers currently sit in third at 21-8, just behind Valdosta State who is 22-7, and UAH is now assured of having either the No. 2 or 3 seed at the tournament.
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GETTING ON AND GETTING IN: The Chargers have one of the top offenses in the country, ranking 19th in batting average by hitting .341 as a team, and the 322 runs scored by UAH represent the ninth-best total in all of Division II. Especially impressive is the balanced nature of UAH's lineup as the team does not have a player ranked in the top 50 in average, but the squad's regular nine hitters are all hitting .317 or better on the year.
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POWER NUMBERS: The team's power numbers are also impressive with UAH ranking 13th in Division II with a slugging percentage of .550, and the team is 12th in the country with 1.12 home runs per game. Four of UAH's regulars are slugging better than .600 on the season led by
Reagan Malone's .659 mark.
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ABOUT MILES: The Golden Bears are 11-29 on the year but are coming off a weekend that saw the team take two of three from Tuskegee. Ombreyah Daly leads the team with a .319 mark at the plate, while Davis Watkins has driven in a team-high 23 RBI.
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SERIES HISTORY: UAH is a perfect 17-0 all-time against Miles.
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ABOUT NORTH ALABAMA: The Lions – ranked No. 5 in the most recent NFCA Division II Top 25 poll – head to the Rocket City at 40-4 (27-2 GSC), winners of 17 straight, and owners of a perfect 11-0 mark on the road. Kara Brewer is batting a team-best .468, while Hannah Shollenberger has knocked in a team-high 40 runs on the season. In the circle UNA is led by Megan Garst who has a 1.12 ERA to go along with a 20-2 record.
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A FINAL CHAPTER: This weekend's series marks the final one between the two programs before UNA departs the GSC and Division II next season.
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SERIES HISTORY: The Chargers are 66-26 all-time against the Lions after going 2-2 against the team last year, winning two of the three regular season meetings before falling in the NCAA tournament to UNA.
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