Chanticleers to Host South Alabama in Three-Game Series

Friday, March 19

Conway, S.C.

4 PM ET

Coastal Carolina University

South Alabama

Photo by: Max Curran, Coastal Carolina Digital

3/18/2021 2:36:00 PM | Softball

LIVE STATS (ALL GAMES)CCU Gamenotes (South Alabama)ESPN+ (GAME 1)ESPN+ (GAME 2)ESPN+ (GAME 3)

By: Quentin Reed

CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina team softball returns this weekend to St. John Stadium to host the South Alabama Jaguars, March 19-21, for a three-game series.

Coastal Carolina comes into the weekend 7-9 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt play as they look to continue to improve on their six-game winning streak over the Jaguars.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Chanticleers will be at home in the friendly confines of St. John Stadium where they have spent 28 of 39 games over the past two seasons.
Coastal has a record of 5-3 home record this season, including winning the last three of a four game over the Lipscomb Bisons. (Feb. 26-28)
CCU is batting .297 in eight games at home compared to .220 six games on the road this season.
The Chants pitching staff has an ERA of 3.38 in eight games at home compared to 4.75 ERA in six games on the road this season.

LOOKIN' BACK

Last weekend in the series with the ULM Warhawks in Monroe, La., CCU went 1-2 as they opened up the weekend, getting swept in Saturday's doubleheader by the scores of 6-3 and 8-4.
The Chanticleers picked up their lone win in the series on Sunday, March 14, the series finale, in a 2-0 victory behind the efforts of senior pitcher Kaitlin Beasley-Polko's 2-0 shutout

MASHING MAKIYA

Tacoma, Wash., native Makiya Thomas has hit safely in 12 of the 16 Chanticleer games this season.
Thomas is 14th in the conference with a .365 batting average and 17th with a .407 slugging percentage.
The senior has hit safely in four of the last six games .455 (10-for-22) with five RBI and two doubles in that span.
Thomas is leading the team in virtually every offensive category, including; batting average (.365), slugging percentage (.596), at-bats (52), hits(19), multi-hit games (6), multi-RBI games tied (3), runs scored (11), doubles (6), home runs tied (2), total bases (31), and stolen bases (7).
The left-handed batter is one of two Chanticleers to be selected to the 2021 preseason All-Sun Belt team.

MOVING UP IN HISTORY

Senior Kaitlin Beasley-Polko collected her 44th career win on March 14 versus UL Monroe as she pitched a complete game, two-hit shut out. In the victory, she passed Ashley Frederick ('10) for eighth all-time in the 2-0 win.
In the game versus ULM, the senior pitched seven innings, allowing just two hits. It was the sixth time in Beasley-Polko's career she has accomplished the feat.

STEADY ABBEY

Junior infielder Abbey Montoya was inserted into the Chanticleer starting lineup versus ULM and went 4-for-8 in the series with a home run and a RBI in the three-game set.
Over her last seven games, the CCU shortstop has batted .400 (8-for-20) with a home run, two RBI, and three runs scored.
On the season Montoya is batting .333 (10-for-30) with a triple, a double, and a home run with four runs scored.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

The Jaguars come into the second conference weekend of the season with a 13-8 overall record including a clean sweep of the Appalachian State last weekend at home in Mobile, Ala.
Freshman pitcher Olivia Lackie is coming off two starts where she pitched her first career no-hitter and followed it up with a one-hitter with a total of 31 strikeouts in two games over the Mountaineers.
On March 7, Lackie knocked off then undefeated, No. 2 Alabama with a complete game, three-hit performance with six strikeouts.
Offensively, South Alabama is hitting a combined .268 as a team and have three players hitting over .300. Abby Krzywiecki leads the team with a .406 batting average. Veteran Kamdyn Kvistad leads the team in both RBI (12) and home runs (5).

HISTORY AGAINST

The series dates back to 2009, but the last nine games have been played since 2017 when Coastal joined the Sun Belt Conference.
Coastal holds the all-time series advantage, 6-5, and won the the last five meetings.
The last series played against each other occured in 2019 as the Chants won three games to none. Stavi Augur sealed the final game of the three-game series with her first career grandslam in the top of the sixth off USA reliever Brittani Reid.
In the sweep two seasons ago, Courtney Dean led the Chanticleers offense in the series as she batted .429 (3-for-7) with a home run, three RBI, and four walks.
Pitcher Kaitlin Beasley-Polko pitched in each of the three games in the sweep. The then-sophomore got two starts and a relief appearance in the series against the Jags and tallied two wins, 15.1 innings, allowed seven earned runs with 14 strikeouts and earned a save.

The three-game set was set for two days, March 20-21, but was changed earlier in the week and now will be played over a span of three days, starting on Friday, March 19 at 4 p.m. ET.

For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSoftball (Twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers(Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina.