TUCSON, Ariz. (February 17, 2017) – The Lady Chaps travel to Tucson, Ariz. to take part in the second annual D2 Cactus Classic softball tournament hosted by Tucson Invitational Games with games against Academy of Art, No. 23 Dixie State, Fort Lewis and University of Mary.
 
LADY CHAP WEEKEND SCHEDULE (all times CST)
Friday, February 17, 2017
   10:30 a.m. – No. 23 Dixie State (#LCUvsDIXIE)
   12:30 p.m. – Mary (#LCUvsMARY)
 
Saturday, February 18, 2017
   12:30 p.m. – Academy of Art (#LCUvsAAU)
   3:00 p.m. – Fort Lewis (LCUvsFLC)
 
Sunday, February 19, 2017
   10:30 a.m. – Mary (#LCUvsMARY)
 
TEAM LEADERS
LCU's team leaders are Alyssa Hanks (.538 average), Courtney Medina (13 stolen bases) and Sydney Beuthien (18 hits). Beuthien also leads the team in runs-batted-in (14) and slugging percentage (.784). She has five multi-hit games. In the circle, Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week, Katera Eltsosie leads the Lady Chaps with a 5-0 record and a 0.61 earned run average. Katlyn Holmes is tops on the team with three saves this season.
 
STREAKING
Alyssa Hanks has a hit in all six games she has played this year. Beuthien has successfully reached base in all 12 games the Lady Chaps have played this season and now has another hit streak of her own going with six consecutive games. Eltsosie has gone 21.2 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run.
 
No. 23 DIXIE STATE
No previous meetings
 
Dixie State finished the 2016 season with a 36-15 overall record and a second place (24-8) finish in the PacWest, while making its eighth consecutive NCAA Division II West Regional appearance. DSU is 8-1 on the season and has not played a game outside St. George, Utah this season. Dixie State is preseason picked second in the PacWest Softball Preseason Rankings behind California Baptist.
 
MARY
University of Mary holds a 1-0 all-time series lead over LCU.
 
Mary, based out of Bismark, N.D., participated in the 2017 Desert Stinger in Las Vegas, Nev., where they went 0-5. Mary is preseason picked 13^th in the 16-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
 
PREVIOUS MEETING
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (February 13, 2015) – The Lady Chaps opened the 2015 Desert Stinger with an offensive-minded 13-5 victory over Regis University Friday afternoon but wound up suffering their first defeat on the year by losing 2-1 in a duel with University of Mary later in the evening.
 
The two games were quite opposite of one another, as LCU (5-1) racked up 14 hits against the Rangers (3-5) but only mustered five versus the Marauders (2-1) to end a 15-game win streak dating to last season.
 
Game two on the day involved considerably less scoring and was controlled by pitching, as 17 total strikeouts were filed, including a dozen by Mary's Nena Dudley.
 
Ashton Bell began the contest strong in the circle, forcing a groundout and striking out the next pair of Marauder batters in the top of the first. In the bottom of the frame, Faith Koria singled to shortstop, but was held up as Dudley retired the next three Lady Chaps.
 
The first hit of the contest came in the top of the second on an RBI double by Mary's Julissa Perales to give the Marauders a 2-0 lead. A Beuthien double to right center in the fourth finally put a Lady Chap in scoring position, and walks by Molly Davison and Sammie Murrietta put the winning run on base, but LCU was unable to convert, leaving three deserted.
 
In the sixth, Bell sent a bomb through left center over the scoreboard to pull the Lady Chaps to within 2-1, and a Jessica Loiacano walk and Davison single through the left side again put the win within reach for LCU. However, a line drive to shortstop that seemed to have scraped the group before being scooped by a Mary defender, was never clearly signaled by the officials causing confusion for the LCU runners. The play was eventually ruled a groundout double, leaving the Lady Chaps without the opportunity to add to the scoring column.
 
Bell kept the Marauders from adding any runs in the top of the seventh, but Dudley wrapped up the contest by fanning the final three LCU batters.
 
Bell (0-1) suffered her first loss on the season, striking out five and giving up five hits.
 
ACADEMY OF ART
No prior Meetings
 
LCU faces an Academy of Art program that is riding the momentum of two 5-1 victories over Northwest Nazarene. San Francisco based Academy of Art, heading to Arizona with a 3-3 record, is preseason picked tied for seventh in the PacWest. It is a Texas two-step in Arizona for the Urban Knights, who will play No.2 West Texas A&M prior to facing the Lady Chaps
 
FORT LEWIS
LCU leads the all-time series 2-0
 
Fort Lewis will mark the third Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference program LCU has seen this season. They head to Arizona 1-4 on the season after opening their season in Canyon, Texas at the West Texas A&M's tournament. FLC was preseason picked 10^th in the RMAC preseason poll.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING
CANYON, Texas (February 14, 2016) – It took extra innings once again for the Lady Chaps to take game one in the WT Invitational, this time from Fort Lewis College in a 7-6 win.
 
To open the day, LCU (10-5) was first on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning when the Fort Lewis (2-7) third baseman dropped a fly ball allowing Lindzi Clemmer to score from third. In the top of the second, the Skyhawks took a 2-1 lead off of a two-out single that plated Mandy Owens and Lauren Caldwell. During the next inning, LCU would regain the lead 3-2 when Molly Davison doubled to drive in Morgan Colburn and Baylee Goolsby. After FLC tied the game up in the top of the fifth, the Lady Chaps again took the lead with Colburn's two-run bomb down the left field line. The Skyhawks answered in the next half inning by getting two runs of their own to tie the game at 5-5.
 
For the third time this season and the second in the WT Invitational, the Lady Chaps had to play into the eighth inning. With the International Tie Breaker (ITB) rule in effect, the Skyhawks placed Owens on second base to start the inning. FLC was able to bring her home via a sacrifice bunt followed by a sacrifice fly to take a 7-6 lead. The Lady Chaps put Liz Torres at second in the bottom half of the inning where she reached third on a double by Colburn before Katlin Reed would hit a shot into left to score both Torres and Colburn for the walk-off win.
 
Katlyn Holmes (3-1) notched her third victory of the year by going the full eight innings for LCU. Holmes only allowed three earned runs while striking out two. Victoria Johnson (2-2) took the loss for the Skyhawks, allowing eight hits and seven runs while walking five Lady Chap batters.
 
BROADCAST INFO
All games will be available to watch and listen live live as well as live stats being streamed. Catch the action at www.lcuchaps.com.