COMMERCE— The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team will face Midwestern State in a three-game series over the weekend. The contests will be the final three home games of a long stand for the Lions before they return to the road after the series.
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (12-8, 2-4 LSC) vs. Midwestern State (12-13, 3-6 LSC)
WHERE: John Cain Family Softball Complex in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Friday, March 10 at 3 and 5 p.m., Saturday, March 11 at 1 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=tame
LIVE WEBCAST: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/tamucommerce/
TICKETS: http://lionathletics.com/sports/2016/12/13/2017-softball-ticket-information.aspx
The Lions are coming off of a tough weekend with three consecutive losses to Cameron. It was the first time in the Lions' three-year history that the team failed to win at least one game in a series against a conference opponent. Head coach
Richie Bruister was disappointed with the sweep but knows his team will be able to bounce back.
"We obviously had adversity there," Bruister said. "We had a close one there on Friday night that got away from us and then we just didn't play our style of ball on Saturday. It was unfortunate the way it ended up, getting swept. Obviously this week, we are getting back to the drawing board and getting ready to go for the weekend."
While the Lions didn't get a win in their series against Cameron, the Lion hitters were still getting the job done. In two of the three games, the Lions had 10 or more hits, something that Bruister sees as a positive. He hopes to see those hits come more in bunches to allow runners to cross the plate.
"I always like when I've got runners on base. That's a good thing," he said. "You have a problem when there is nobody on base. That's when you worry about your hitting. Since we had people on base, I'm not worried about our hitting. They did really well this weekend. I'm happy about that. What we've got to do is string those together. There will be some lineup changes and hopefully that will get the hits to come all at one time instead of spread out and then you will see the big runs come for us."
The home run ball was also working for the Lions last weekend. They had three homers in their three games.
December Rivers,
Vanessa Avina and
Chealsea Slider each hit a ball out of the park. With Avina and Slider normally batting at the end of the lineup, Bruister said it is encouraging to get that kind of production.
"That gives you an opportunity to put up big runs and a big inning," he said. "That's something you want. We see it in practice every day. That's some of the youth starting to get comfortable at the plate. They are having those good at bats that we see every single day in practice. You know eventually it is going to happen. Fortunately, we were able to see that early on in the season. We look forward to seeing a lot more from them later on."
The Lions now face Midwestern State in a three-game series. The Mustangs are 12-13 on the season but have won three of their last four games. Bruister knows a good team is coming into his teams' ball park and he knows his team will have to be ready.
"They are a good ball club, just like all of the Lone Star Conference schools," he said of MSU. "They have had a lot of close ball games. They are right around .500 so we are going to have to play. They are solid all the way through their hitting, their defense, pitching. They have everything. We know we are going to have to show up and play good games to beat them."
