LUBBOCK, Texas (February 25, 2023) – And just like that, No.9 Lubbock Christian University is back home at Maner Park. Playing 14 of their first 17 games at home, the Lady Chaparrals are back home Saturday evening for a 6 p.m. first pitch to open a Lone Star Conference series with Texas Woman's.
| LONE STAR CONFERENCE SOFTBALL |
| OPPONENT |
LOCATION |
DAY |
TIME (CT) |
WATCH |
STATS |
| Texas Woman's |
Lubbock, Texas |
Sat., Feb. 25 |
6 p.m. |
Video |
Stats |
|
|
|
|
|
| Texas Woman's |
Lubbock, Texas |
Sun., Feb. 26 |
1 p.m. |
Video |
Stats |
| Texas Woman's |
Lubbock, Texas |
Sun., Feb. 26 |
3 p.m. |
Video |
Stats |
| WEATHER |
|
|
|
|
|
LCU and TWU Series Snapshot
- With wins in the previous five meetings, LCU has a 6-2 all-time series advantage.
- Last season, the two teams met in Denton, Texas for the first time and LCU swept the series with a 3-2 and 16-0 (6 inn.) win on April 1, 2022.
- The first four meetings were neutral site contests, with the two teams splitting 2-2.
- The two teams have played two games in Lubbock (both were on April 9, 2021), with Lubbock winning 7-0 and 10-2 (5 inn.).
- Maxine Valdez (two career appearances) is 1-0 in her career against TWU, including a complete game no-hitter in LCU's 16-0 win last season in six innings. Valdez, who had 13 strikeouts in her no-hitter, has 14 strikeouts and has not allowed a hit in 6.1 career innings against the Pioneers.
- Kasey Flores is 3-for-6 (.500) in her career against TWU (2 games) with two home runs and four RBI.
- Taylor Franco has a career 2-0 record and 0.50 ERA against TWU, which includes one run allowed and 20 strikeouts in 14.0 innings.
- Skylar Herrera has a .429 average in four career games against TWU with six hits leading to a homer, two doubles and five RBI.
- Bailey Hughes has a home run in one career at-bat against TWU (two run homer).
How is the Team Doing?
- LCU is 13-4 this season and coming off a three-game road sweep at Midwestern State (LSC games).
- This season's 13-4 stretch includes a 10-game win streak.
- The Lady Chaps are hitting .376 as a team (eighth nationally), with 17 home runs (10th nationally) in 17 games. LCU averages 7.2 runs a contest (21st nationally).
- In the circle, LCU has an ERA of 1.72 (24th nationally and second in the LSC). Opponents are hitting .168 against LCU this season (leads LSC). The staff has a WHIP of 0.89 (10th nationally) and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.68 (ranks 19th nationally).
- LCU leads the nation in doubles (42) and is 12th in doubles per game (2.5).
- The Lady Chaps have batted in 93 innings this season. They have scored at least one run in 51 of them (54.8% of the innings).
- Defensively, LCU ranks 35th nationally with a 97.3% fielding percentage. They are fifth in the LSC with 0.41 double plays turned per game.
Who is Doing What?
- Pitcher Maxine Valdez is 5-1 this season with a 2.22 ERA in 28.1 innings pitched. She ranks 25th nationally in WHIP (.78), 30th in hits allowed per seven innings (3.7), 41st nationally averaging 8.9 strikeouts per seven innings and 42nd in strikeouts (36). On Feb. 11, Valdez posted a complete game no-hitter against Chadron State, which was the third of her LCU career and led to LSC Pitcher of the Week honors. Valdez is 24-10 in her career.
- Taylor Franco is 4-3 with a 0.86 ERA and ranks tied for fourth nationally with six complete games. She is fifth nationally in shutouts (3), seventh in strikeouts (57) and 16th in hits allowed per seven innings (3.29).
- Franco ranks third actively in NCAA Div. II career shutouts (25), which is seventh actively at all NCAA levels.
- Fourth actively in NCAA Div. II career complete games (56)
- Fourth actively in NCAA Div. II career innings pitched (561.0)
- Seventh actively in NCAA Div. II career saves (7)
- 11th actively in NCAA Div. II career strikeouts (476)
- 16th actively in NCAA Div. II career strikeouts-per-seven innings (5.9)
- Ranks 24th actively in NCAA Div. II career marks in ERA (2.02)
- New Mexico State transfer Hope Banales is hitting .413 (17th in the LSC) at the plate with a team-leading eight doubles, which is second in the LSC and third nationally.
- Kasey Flores leads the team in hits (20, 28th nationally and fifth in the LSC) and leads the team in home runs (7, tied-secend nationally and co-leads the LSC), RBI (25, second nationally and leads the LSC), total bases (48, third nationally and leads the LSC), slugging (1.021, which is 22nd nationally and OPS at 1.563). She ranks second in the LSC hitting .462 on the season. The LSC recognized Kasey as the LSC Hitter of the Week on Feb. 7. In 17 games, she has nine multi-RBI games.
- In her career, Flores has the sixth-best slugging mark in active-career NCAA Div.II statistics, with a career slugging of .809.
- She has 47 career home runs, which actively ranks 10th among all NCAA levels.
- LCU has a 38-12 advantage this season in stolen bases. Berkeley Quinn leads LCU with 11 stolen bases (eighth in the LSC) and Skylar Herrera has 10 thefts on the campaign (12th in the LSC). LCU has 328swipes and averages 2.24 in steals per game.
- Herrera has 62 career stolen bases, which ranks 20th for active career leaders in NCAA Div. II
- The Lady Chaps have 17 home runs this season (second in LSC) and eight different Lady Chaps have round-trippers this season.
- Skyler Herrera ranks sixth in the LSC in runs per game (1.12), 12th in hits (18) tied for 15th in total bases (26).
- Actively ranks 17th in NCAA Div.II in career runs (128)
- 24th in total bases (277)
- 34th in RBI (110)
- 39th in home runs (24)
- 46th in hits (156)
Lone Star Conference Breakdown
- This season is LCU's fourth season in the LSC.
- LCU is 48-26 all-time in LSC play.
- The Lady Chaps went 23-7 last season in conference.
- LCU is 3-3 in conference play
- LCU is hitting .299 in conference, with seven home runs.
- The pitching staff has a 3.03 ERA in LSC play, with 40 strikeouts in 37.0 innings and holding opponents to a .215 batting average.
- Tiarra Delrosario is 8-for-21 (.381), leading LCU in hits in conference play.
- Kasey Flores leads LCU in home runs (3) and RBI (10) in conference play.
- Taylor Franco has a 1.67 ERA and is 1-2 with 22 strikeouts in 21.0 innings.
Season Expectations
- The Lady Chaps are preseason picked to finish fourth in the Lone Star Conference.
- LCU is in their ninth season playing a NCAA Division II schedule (2013 was their last season in NAIA) and this is their fourth season as members of the Lone Star Conference.
- There are 15 softball programs in the LSC this season. The major difference from last season to this season is Texas A&M-Commerce made the move to NCAA Division I.
National Notes
- Lubbock Christian is 0-4 this season against nationally ranked programs.
- The Lady Chaps went 9-10 last season (2022) against nationally ranked programs.
- LCU opened the season No.21 in the NFCA National Top-25 Coaches Preseason Poll. Last week they were ranked No.8 and dropped to No.9 this week.
Coach Talk
- LCU head coach Daren Hays is in his 13th season at the helm of the Lady Chaps.
- Hays is LCU's winningest softball head coach, entering Friday with a softball record of 499-161.
- Along with surpassing 400 coaching wins in softball, Hays had surpassed 300 wins as a collegiate baseball head coach. He spent eight seasons as the LCU baseball head coach and compiled a 356-163 record.
Streaking Along
- Tiarra Delrosario is LCU's active hit-streak leader, as she enter the series on a five-game hit streak. Berkeley Quinn has the longest streak of the season at eight games.
- Several players are included in the active-leading streak in games reached-base-safely at five games. Skylar Herrera has this season's highest mark, reaching base safely in 11 consecutive games this season.
- Hope Banales and Kasey Flores are each co-leading the squad with seven multi-hit games.
- Kasey Flores leads the team with nine multi-RBI games.
Home on the Range
- LCU is 298-47 (86.4%) all-time in home games at Maner Park.
- Last season, LCU was 15-6 at home (17-7 in 2021).
- This season, LCU is 10-4 at home.
- LCU played their first 14 games at home this season, which is a program record for home games to start a season.
- LCU is hitting .380 at home and has a 1.92 staff ERA.
- The Lady Chaps have 13 home runs in 14 home games, with six hit by Kasey Flores.
- Kasey Flores leads LCU at home with a .474 batting average.
- Maine Valdez is 4-1 at home and Taylor Franco has a 1.02 ERA at home.
In Summary
- LCU has a 21-3 scoring advantage in the first inning and a 24-2 advantage in the fourth inning, with their highest offensive output coming in the second inning, with a 31-13 scoring advantage. LCU is 8-1 when leading after the first inning and 13-1 when scoring first.
- The Lady Chaps are 13-1 when leading after four innings.
- LCU is 9-2 this season when they hit at least one home run in a game.
- The Lady Chaps are 8-0 when errorless. They are 13-2 when their opponents commit at least one error.
Looking at TWU
- The Pioneers went 12-33 last season, finishing tied for 14th in the LSC with a 7-23 conference mark. They are 9-4 this season and are third in the LSC with a 5-1 conference record.
- TWU is hitting .216 this season and have eight home runs on the season. They have a staff ERA of 2.04 and opponents are hitting .235 against them. They have only allowed one home run this season.
- They are 2-1 one the road this season, as they took a pair of games in a three-game conference series in Austin, Texas against St. Edward's (Feb. 17-18).
- TWU is preseason picked to finish 10th in the LSC in the LSC Preseason Poll.
- Gay McNutt takes over at the helm of the Pioneers this season, as she arrived from Texas A&M-Commerce, where she was last season.
- Alysa LaBlanc is hitting .316 for TWU with four home runs and 15 RBI. She is also 5-2 with a 1.76 ERA in the circle. She is one of four Pioneers to follow Coach McNutt from TAMUC.
