No. 3 ST. MARY'S (17-5) at No. 20 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (16-6)
Friday, March 10 – 5 & 7 p.m.
PlainsCapital Park (Lubbock, Texas)
All-Time Series: StMU leads 10-5
#LCUvsStMU

LUBBOCK, Texas (March 7, 2017) – The No. 20 Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals return home to host No. 3 St. Mary's at PlainsCapital Park on the LCU campus for a three game series with the first two games taking place Friday, March 10 at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
 
LCU LEADERS
As a team, the Lady Chaps are leading the Heartland Conference in batting average and ranked 10^th nationally (.361). LCU also leads the conference in doubles per game (1.85, 29^th in the nation), On Base Percentage (.429, 14^th in the nation), Scoring (7.05, 18^th in the nation) and Stolen Bases per Game (1.7). The Lady Chaps rank 24^th in the nation in slugging percentage (.523) and sit second in the conference behind Rogers State (.529). Sydney Beuthien continues to lead both LCU and the Heartland Conference in batting average (.455), doubles (7), hits (30), slugging percentage (.833), runs-batted-in (26, 19^th in the nation) and total bases (54, 17^th in the nation). She also leads the team with nine multi-hit games and sits 21^st in the nation with six home runs. Courtney Medina leads the Lady Chaps in stolen bases (17). In the circle, Katera Eltsosie leads the Lady Chaps and sits second in the conference with an 8-2 record. Monique Garcia leads the Lady Chaps with the most innings pitched (61), strikeouts (46) and a 1.84 earned run average. Katlyn Holmes is tops on the team and in the conference as well as second in the nation with three saves this season.
 
CONFERENCE OPENERS
LCU is 6-3 all time in conference openers. Under Head Coach Daren Hays, the Lady Chaps are 3-3 in conference openers. Since making the transition to NCAA Division II in Heartland action the Lady Chaps are 1-2 in conference openers with a 2-1 loss in last year's Heartland opener in Austin, Texas against St. Edward's. LCU opened Heartland play against St. Mary's one prior occasion. In that meeting, first year in the Heartland (2014), LCU fell with a 4-1 loss.
 
ST. MARY'S
The Rattlers come in hitting .280 as a team and have the second best Earned Run Average in the Heartland Conference (2.45, 35^th in the nation). They are holding opponents to a .208 batting average and have only allowed 61 runs this season. St. Mary's has scored 105 runs this season with 39 extra base hits. They come into the Hub City leading the conference in Fielding Percentage (.970, 34^th in the nation). The Rattlers are coming in victims of a double-header sweep this past Wednesday at the hands of the No. 8 Rambelles of Angelo State.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (May 6, 2016) – Late heroics by the Rattlers of St. Mary's brought an end to the Lubbock Christian University softball season by losing 2-1 in extra innings at The Softball Stadium inside The Park at St. Mary's in San Antonio on Friday.
 
Through seven innings of regulation play neither Lubbock Christian (45-15) nor St. Mary's (44-12) could get a run in. The Lady Chaps had their chances leaving 11 runners on base. In the eighth inning Sammie Murrietta drew a bases-loaded walk to put LCU up 1-0, but in the bottom half of the inning with two outs the Rattlers managed to score two runs to secure the victory and bring Lubbock Christian's season to a close.
 
Katlyn Holmes (20-6) got the start in the circle for the Lady Chaps going the distance allowing only the two runs suffering her sixth loss of the year. Jordan Russell (19-5) started for StMU also pitching the whole game to notch her 19th victory this season.

BROADCAST INFO
The games will be available to listen live, watch live as well as live stats. Catch all of the action at www.lcuchaps.com.