Cowgirls Look To Maintain ASC West Lead

ABILENE, Texas — Hardin-Simmons softball team has a big weekend series with second-place Howard Payne at Ellis Field, the Cowgirls could clinch the ASC West title with a sweep of the series, which begins on Friday at 2 p.m. with a doubleheader.

The Cowgirls have won 19 of their last 20 games and recently had a 17-game winning streak snapped. Overall, HSU is 24-8 and 15-1 in league play. Howard Payne comes into the weekend with a record of 25-5 and they are 13-3 in league play. Each team has a series remaining next weekend – HSU at third-place Mary Hardin-Baylor and Howard Payne against fourth-place Concordia. The top three teams make the ASC Tournament.

HSU has been red hot offensively, especially in league play. Freshman catcher Taylor Namey leads the league in conference play in average (.627), hits (32), runs (32), home runs (10) and RBIs (36). She had six home runs in last weekend’s series at Concordia. She is tied with Arin Spence for the school-single season home run record with 11.

As a team, the Cowgirls are hitting .390 in conference play. Overall, the top two hitters in the league will be in the series as Kate McLaughlin of Howard Payne is hitting .484 and HSU’s Courtney Clark is hitting .482.

The Cowgirls, who do not have a senior on the roster, have also had big seasons from junior Callie Rice, who is hitting .408 and Shayla Lee is .359 on the year with six home runs and 36 RBIs.

The series also features the top two pitchers in the ASC West. Jenna Middleton is 14-0 on the year for Howard Payne and freshman Sarah Shubert is 13-1 for the Cowgirls.

The teams will play a noon doubleheader on Saturday to finish the series. Friday’s games can be heard on www.hsuathletics.com.

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