April 11, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Coming off a 2-1 series win over C-USA foe Southern Miss over the weekend, the Memphis softball team will host its final home, mid-week games of the season Wednesday, as it entertains Middle Tennessee State in a double-header at Greenbrook Park.

The Lady Tigers will look to carry momentum off the weekend series in which the squad swept the Golden Eagles on Saturday before taking a heart-wrenching, 2-1 loss in 10 innings in Sunday's series finale.

The Memphis pitchers also bring major head of steam into the non-conference twinbill, as they combined to allow just one earned run in 24 innings pitched against Southern Miss.

Jenna Kubesch led the way, tossing a no-hitter on Saturday and amassing 10-consecutive no-hit innings between games one and three of the series. The junior allowed just one earned run and struck out 15 in 17 innings of work.

Fellow hurler, Nicki Johnson, also did her part in the circle, shutting out the Golden Eagles in game two, while scattering four hits and five walks and striking out four.

The Lady Tiger pitchers will look to continue those trends Wednesday, as they face a 10-29-1 MTSU team that is hitting .238 as a team.

The Blue Raiders are led by freshman Shelby Stiner with a .320 batting average, and junior Muriel Ledbetter, who is second in average (.308), but leads the Blue Raiders in runs (21), homeruns (7), RBI (17), doubles (10) and walks (20).

The MTSU pitching staff sports a combined earned-run average of 4.73, with Freshman Laura Moore tops on the squad at 3.70 and junior Trish White second at 4.31.

Middle Tennessee is just 2-13-1 in road games this season and enters the game having lost seven of their last 10.

The first pitch of the double-header between the Lady Tigers and Blue Raiders is set for 2 p.m. at Greenbrook Park, with game two to follow at approximately 4 p.m.