CONWAY, S.C. - Starting on Friday, the Coastal Carolina softball team will host the abbreviated eight-game Ripley's Chanticleer Showdown. CCU looks to continue its hot hitting from last weekend that helped them improve their overall record this year to 5-3.
Coastal Carolina
After starting the season at 1-3, the Chanticleers have reeled off four consecutive wins that included three straight games of 10 or more runs, the first time a Coastal squad has accomplished this feat since Apr. 13-19 of 2016.
Last weekend during the Residence Inn Battle at the Beach, the Chants batted .400 (38-for-95), seven home runs, six doubles, and 41 RBI. With runners in scoring position, Coastal improved their batting average close to 200 points from the prior week. The team would go onto hit a blistering .391 (18-for-46) with runners on second and third, led by the trio of Stavi Augur, Sydney Guess, and Abbey Montoya.
The junior Augur batted 3-for-6 during Battle at the Beach with a grand slam, a double, and 6 RBI. The Del Mar, Calif., native currently ranks first in the Sun Belt Conference with 12 RBI, tied for fifth in home runs (2) and runs scored (7), and ninth with a .800 slugging percentage.
Sophomore Guess is currently riding a five-game hitting streak and went 5-for-6 (.833) last weekend with a home run, scored seven runs, and knocked in five runs.
Fellow sophomore, Montoya had back-to-back games last weekend versus Delaware State, where she connected for her first two home runs of the season. The Castle Rock, Colo., native added her first career grand slam, seven RBI, while adding a slugging percentage of 1.667.
In the pitching department, freshman Raelee Brabham has been consistently strong in her four appearances in 2020 and ranks fifth in the conference with a .86 earned run average.
The Moncks Corner, S.C. native, is currently on a stretch of 13.1 scoreless innings, dating back to her first appearance of the season versus Virginia Tech.
Last weekend, Brabham picked up two wins during the Battle at the Beach. The right-hander came into Saturday's game versus to pitch the final 2.2 innings of the five-inning, 15-0 win versus Northern Illinois and followed it up the same day with a complete-game victory versus Delaware State.
All-time versus Ripley's Chanticleer Showdown Opponents
CCU v. UMBC, 11-5
CCU v. Seton Hall, 1-0
CCU v. Iona, 0-0
UMBC
The University of Maryland Baltimore County returns to Conway for the first time since 1997 when they were part of the Big South Conference.
UMBC has yet to play a game in 2020, but enters the weekend as 2019 America East Tournament Champions as they defeated Stony Brook, 4-0, in the finals and advanced to play in the Norman Regional.
The Retrievers suffered losses to Oklahoma and Notre Dame to end their season, but UMBC squad did a complete 180 from 2018, where they went 12-41 to finish the 2020 season with a 30-24 record.
The Baltimore squad is lead by sophomore pitcher Courtney Coppersmith. In 2019, Coppersmith became the first player in America East history to be named both Rookie and Pitcher of the Year. She threw a perfect game and four no-hitters. Two of those no-hitters came in consecutive performances in the America East Tournament, giving the Retrievers their first and first NCAA berth since 2002. She was named the America East Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after going 4-0 while allowing just two runs in 28 innings pitched, a 0.50 ERA, on only eight hits with 33 strikeouts.
Seton Hall
The Pirates come into the weekend with at 3-6 record, most recently going 1-4 at last weekend's Golden State Classic.
Leading Seton Hall into this weekend is 2019 All-Big East selection, Darby Pandolfo.
Pandolfo was named the Big East Honor Roll player of the week for Feb. 17 as she hit safely in four of the five games in Lake Elsinore, Calif. The senior had a slugging percentage of .800, tallied three doubles, and a home run while driving in six runs for the Pirates.
So far in 2020, Seton Hall has gotten their three wins versus Elon, Rhode Island, and San Diego.
Iona
The Gaels haven't played in 2020 and are looking to improve on their 2019 record of 19-27.
Sophomore Kara Zazzaro led the Gaels' pitching staff a season ago, where she led in virtually every statistical category. Zazarro made 30 appearances last season and picked up 10 of the team's 19 wins in 176.2 innings of work, earning All-Rookie and Second-Team honors in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Fellow returners Jessica Chilcott and Ciarra DiGuilio were also named all-conference.
Chilcott was the team batting leader at .323, 42 hits, and 11 doubles in 2019. DiGuilio was second on the team with .315 batting average, 39 hits, 21 runs batted in and 10 doubles.
CCU will get their portion of the round-robin tournament on Friday at 2:30 p.m versus Seton Hall.
For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSB (twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
