Led the team in batting average (.545), slugging percentage (1.091), on base percentage (.583) and RBIs (4) for the week ... Broke the LSU career doubles record (55) with her first of two doubles against Florida on Saturday ... Moved into a tie for seventh in career doubles in SEC history ... Hit a solo home run that proved to be the game winner and broke up a no-hitter in the series finale against Florida ... That home run moved her into a tie for second in career home runs (27) in LSU history ... Recorded two multiple-hits to move into the team lead this season with 14 multiple-hit games, almost half of LSU's 32 games ... Also added a multiple-RBI game, which improved on her team high (10) and her career record (45).
SEC PITCHER OF THE WEEK Mary Jane Callahan, P, Ole Miss
In three SEC appearances on the week, Callahan went 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. Became Ole Miss' all-time winningest pitcher when she earned her 41st career victory in the 5-4 win over No. 1 Tennessee, the Rebels' first ever win over the nation's top-ranked team. Against the Lady Vols she allowed two hits and two runs, both unearned, and struck out six in 6.2 innings. Tossed a complete game in the 3-2 win at Auburn, allowing two runs and tallying five strikeouts. Pitched two scoreless innings with a pair of K's in relief in the 3-1 defeat to Auburn on Sunday. Ranks among league leaders in ERA and wins in SEC play.
SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK Charlotte Morgan, 1B/P, Alabama
Leading hitter on the week for the Crimson Tide who went on the road and won four of five games in the SEC. The freshman from Moreno Valley, Calif. hit home runs against both Florida and South Carolina to give her one home run in each SEC series in 2007. Her two-run home run against South Carolina led off the 10th inning and was the game-winner in extra innings in a 5-3 win. She had hits in four of the five games for a .357 avg. for the week. She scored two runs in a 6-2 victory at Florida on Wednesday and also hit a two run home run in the second game of the doubleheader. Also appeared in relief in Saturday's 5-3 win over South Carolina. Morgan was credited with the win after she came into the tied game in extra innings against and only allowed one hit with three strikeouts.
Upcoming Schedule
March 20 Mississippi State at UAB
March 21 Arkanasas at Alabama* (2) Florida International at Florida (2) Campbell at Georgia (2) Marshall at Kentucky LSU at Centenary SEMO at Ole Miss (2) South Carolina at Tennessee* (2)
March 22 Princeton at Florida (2)
March 24 Alabama at LSU* (2) Arkansas at Tennessee* (2) Auburn at Mississippi State* (2) Georgia at Florida* (2) Ole Miss at Kentucky* (2)
March 25 Alabama at LSU* Arkansas at Tennessee* Auburn at Mississippi State* Georgia at Florida* Ole Miss at Kentucky*
March 26 Liberty at Tennessee (2)
March 27 Louisiana Tech at Alabama (2) Auburn at Arkansas* (2) Winthrop at South Carolina (2)
March 28 Georgia Tech at Georgia (2) LSU at McNeese State Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State Western Kentucky at Tennessee (2)
March 29 Arkansas vs. Tulsa Arkansas vs. Oklahoma State
March 30 East Tennessee St. at Tennessee (2)
March 31 Georgia at Alabama* (2) Kentucky at Arkansas* (2) LSU at Auburn* (2) Florida at Ole Miss* (2) South Carolina at Miss. State* (2)
April 1 Georgia at Alabama* Kentucky at Arkansas* LSU at Auburn* Florida at Ole Miss* South Carolina at Mississippi State*
April 2 Tennessee Tech at Tennessee
April 3 Northwestern State at Alabama (2) Florida Atlantic at Alabama Arkansas at Kansas (2) Kentucky at LSU* (2)
NATIONAL POLLS
USA Today/NFCA National Poll
March 14
Rank Team Record Pts. Prev. 1. Tennessee (27) 24-1 747 1 2. Arizona State (2) 27-2 710 3 3. Texas A&M 21-2 663 4 4. Alabama (1) 24-0 660 4 5. Arizona 17-5 650 2 6. Oklahoma 28-1 608 6 7. Northwestern 15-5 550 7 8. Texas 20-3 532 8 9. Michigan 20-1 524 9 10. LSU 24-4 443 10 11. UCLA 21-6 434 12 12. Washington 18-4 412 11 13. Stanford 21-5 397 13 14. Baylor 24-5 387 16 15. Oregon State 15-9 284 14 16. Oregon 24-3 278 17 17. Louisiana-Lafayette 24-6 244 15 18. Georgia 22-8 195 21 19. Florida 19-10 191 19 20. Southern Illinois 18-5 168 18 21. Illinois State 19-5 149 22 22. Georgia Tech 25-5 125 20 23. Hawaii 23-5 95 NR 24. Florida State 18-8 53 25 25. California 18-10 46 23
Others receiving votes: N.C. State 45, Fresno State 27, DePaul 30, Cal State Fullerton 21, Nebraska 15, South Carolina 14, Virginia Tech 8, North Carolina 8. Eight others received one vote each.
ESPN.com/USA Softball National Poll
March 20
Rank Team Record Pts. Prev. 1. Tennessee (11) 28-2 483 1 2. Alabama (7) 28-1 478 2 3. Oklahoma (2) 33-2 455 6 4. Texas A&M 25-3 452 3 5. Arizona 21-7 404 5 6. Michigan 23-3 384 7 7. Arizona State 29-5 380 4 8. Northwestern 19-5 376 9 9. LSU 28-4 343 12 10. Stanford 21-5 303 11 11. Texas 23-6 300 8 T12. Baylor 27-8 262 10 T12. Oregon 30-3 262 14 14. UCLA 22-6 236 15 15. Louisiana-Lafayette 28-7 227 16 16. Washington 20-7 209 13 17. Illinois State 23-6 159 17 18. DePaul 16-6 150 21 19. Georgia 26-9 124 19 20. Georgia Tech 27-7 103 18 21. Oregon State 20-10 94 20 22. Southern Illinois 21-5 62 23 23. Hawaii 27-7 54 25 24. Virginia Tech 24-9 50 NR 25. NC State 21-11 46 NR
SEC Softball Notes
Team-By-Team Notes
ALABAMA Crimson Tide - The No. 2 Crimson Tide posted a 4-1 record on the week in a schedule that featured five SEC road games against ranked teams. On Wednesday they won the first of two games at No. 22 Florida before suffering a setback to end their 25-game hitting streak to start the season. They were the last undefeated team in Division I softball. Alabama swept a three-game series over the weekend at No. 24 South Carolina to improve to 28-1 on they year and 7-1 in conference play. The Tide hit five home runs on the weekend, which resulted in eight of their nine runs. Lauren Parker's solo home run in the first game was the only hit for the Tide in a 1-0 victory. Charlotte Morgan hit a tworun home run in the top of the 10th inning to give Bama a 5-3 win in the second game.
ARKANSAS Lady Razorbacks - The University of Arkansas softball team faces No. 2 Alabama in a midweek doubleheader Wednesday, before traveling to Knoxville for a three-game series against No. 1 Tennessee Saturday and Sunday. The Lady Razorbacks went 2-6 last week, defeating North Dakota State 2-1 and Nebraska 5-4. Freshman pitcher Miranda Dixon was undefeated, going 2-0 and earning her third win of the season Sunday against Nebraska. Dixon allowed just one earned run and had nine strike outs in four appearances and 18.2 innings pitched this week.
AUBURN Tigers -The Auburn softball team slows down a bit this week, failing to play a midweek game for the first time in a month. The Tigers will head to Mississippi State for a three-game series Saturday and Sunday before visiting Arkansas for a doubleheader Tuesday next week. Auburn is coming off a 1-4 week, losing a doubleheader to Georgia and taking one of three games from Ole Miss. Ashley Arcuri had a big week for the Tigers, finishing 6 for 11 with a double, two walks and a stolen base. Arcuri is batting .550 (11 for 20) in SEC play this season, collecting four doubles, three walks and two stolen bases in eight games. Anna Thompson has also started SEC play strong with a 2-2 record and 1.07 ERA. The Tigers will be facing the Bulldogs and Lady ‘Backs, two clubs Auburn has seen recent successes against. Auburn has won eight of its last 10 games against Mississippi State, including a three-game sweep last season. Similarly, the Tigers have won 10 of their last 11 games against the Lady ‘Backs. Auburn swept Arkansas in 2004 and 2005 before taking two of three in Fayetteville last season.
FLORIDA Gators - The Florida Softball team continued it tough stretch to open the SEC season, facing No. 2 Alabama and No. 10 LSU. Florida took game two of the doubleheader with the Crimson Tide to break up the Tide's 25-game win streak. The Gators suffered their first series sweep of the season as they lost all three at LSU over the weekend. Florida has now played nine straight games against teams ranked in the top 25. Eleven of Florida's last 13 games have been against ranked teams and 21 of 34 games overall have been against teams ranked or receiving votes. This weekend the Gators host midweek doubleheaders against Florida International and Princeton on Wednesday and Thursday before a weekend three-game series with Georgia.
GEORGIA Bulldogs - The Georgia Bulldogs (26-9, 4-1 SEC) welcome the Campbell Fighting Camels (18-18-1) to Athens on Wednesday for a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. EDT. Georgia has won 11 out of its last 12 games. The Bulldogs posted a 4-1 showing in Southeastern Conference play last week, including a doubleheader sweep at Auburn last Wednesday. Georgia secured a 2-1 series win over Kentucky on Sunday with a 6-4 victory at the UGA Softball Complex. Junior Victoria Sanders led all Georgia hitters with a .538 batting average (7-for-13) last week with a triple and four RBI. Sojourner Moody contributed six hits while Kellie Middleton and Melissa Wood each contributed five RBI. Senior Kasi Carroll (18-4) posted a 2-1 showing last week after hurling two complete game shutouts. Christie Hamilton (7-3) checked in with a 2-0 mark after earning her sixth straight win against Kentucky on Sunday.
KENTUCKY Wildcats - UK went 1-4 this week against Mississippi State and Georgia. They split a doubleheader at No. 18 Georgia and are now 14-10 on the year and 2-6 in league play. The Cats snapped Georgia's 10-game win streak with a 6-1 victory in the nightcap. The 6-1 win over the No. 18 Bulldogs was the first over a nationally-ranked opponent this season and the first since the Wildcats defeated then No. 24 Florida last season (Apr. 22) in Gainesville. The UK defense turned five double plays this week to give it 14 for the season. The Wildcats tied a school record in game two against MSU with three home runs, a feat achieved three times previously. Brooke Marnitz, Katie Campbell and Becky Bishop all hit a longball in the two-run loss. The last time UK had three homers in a game was on Feb. 19, 2005, against Texas State. The Cats added two more homers in game three at Georgia when Katie Campbell and Becky Bishop went back-to-back. The back-to-back homers were the ninth time two Wildcats have homered in the same inning and the second time they've done it in consecutive at-bats. The Wildcats now have 30 homers for the season, just seven away from the school record of 37 which was set in 2004.
LSU Tigers - LSU posted a perfect 4-0 record last week as the Tigers took a mid-week game from Texas-San Antonio before sweeping an SEC series from nationally ranked Florida. LSU broke the school record for consecutive home wins with the sweep of the Gators and have now won 30 consecutive home games, dating back to 2006. In addition, senior Leslie Klein broke the Tiger career doubles record with her first of two doubles against Florida on Saturday and moved into a tie for seventh in career doubles in SEC history. Junior Dee Dee Henderson recorded a hit in each game last week, extending her hitting streak to 15 games, tying her with Klein and former Tiger Stephanie Hill for the longest hitting streak in LSU history. Emily Turner picked up a pair of wins for the Tigers in the circle, pitching a two-hit shutout against Florida on Saturday before earning a win in relief on Sunday, allowing just one hit and no runs in three and a third innings.
OLE MISS Rebels - Ole Miss went 3-2 in SEC play this week by splitting a doubleheader with No. 1 Tennessee on Wednesday and taking two-ofthree to win the series at Auburn over the weekend. The Rebels sit in third place in the West and fifth overall with a 4-4 conference record, which is tied for the best start through eight league games in school history. The 5-4 win over the top-ranked Lady Vols was the program's first win over the nation's No. 1 team. The series win over Auburn was Ole Miss' second straight after taking two-of-three on the Plains last year. Senior LHP Mary Jane Callahan became the school's all-time winningest pitcher with her 41st career victory in the win over Tennessee before earning her 42nd on Saturday against Auburn. The Rebels play a nonconference doubleheader against Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday before returning to SEC play with a road series at Kentucky this weekend.
MISSISSIPPI STATE Bulldogs - Mississippi State began the week sweeping a midweek doubleheader at Kentucky. The Bulldogs won the first game, 7-0, before holding on in the second game to claim a 9-7 victory. In the opening game, Kelli Miller threw her a complete game three-hitter, shutting out the Wildcats, 3-0. Courtney Bures had three hits and drove in three RBI, while Chelsea Bramlett had three hits and scored twice. In the nightcap, UK took a 2-0 lead in the first. But State took advantage of four Wildcat errors to plate seven runs in the second, and added another in the third. Kentucky cut the deficit to 8-5 in the third off two homeruns. MSU then traveled to top-ranked Tennessee, dropping three games to the Lady Vols, 3-0, 2-1 in eight innings, and 5-1. In the series finale, Chelsea Bramlett hit her first career home run. The Bulldogs will travel to Birmingham, Ala. for a midweek contest at UAB starting at 6:00 p.m. (CT) before hosting Auburn this weekend in its first home conference series.
SOUTH CAROLINA Gamecocks - South Carolina went 1-4 on the week after splitting a doubleheader with Virginia Tech and suffering a threegame losing streak to No. 2 Alabama. Despite the loss, junior pitcher Melissa Hendon ptiched 6.2 perfect innings in game one, only to record a 1-0 loss after giving up a solo home run. The Gamecocks travel to Knoxville, Tenn. for a doubleheader at No. 1 Tennessee Wednesday. After that, the Gamecocks will take a week off before returning to action at home on Tuesday, March 27. South Carolina will host Winthrop in a non-conference matchup.
TENNESSEE Lady Volunteers - The No. 1 Tennessee Lady Vol softball team split a mid-week doubleheader at Ole Miss before sweeping a three-game weekend set against Mississippi State to improve its overall record to 28-2 and 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference. Senior pitcher Monica Abbott continued her strong campaign by posting a 4-1 record for the week with two solo shutouts, four complete games and 55 strikeouts in 31 innings of work while allowing the opposition to hit at just a .143 clip. Senior center fielder Lindsay Schutzler guided the offensive attack at .462 (6-of-13) with a double, two triples and six RBI. The Monterey, Calif., delivered both of her three-baggers in the 5-4 loss at Ole Miss on Wednesday, including one with two down in the seventh inning that cleared the base paths for three RBI, nearly bringing UT back from a 5-0 deficit. Freshman third baseman Anita Manuma made the most of the first SEC action of her brief career in the Orange & White by registering a .444 (4-of-9) average with a double while hitting safely in three of the four contests in which she appeared. Junior first baseman Tonya Callahan posted a .357 average with two doubles and an RBI. UT’s 28-2 start is the best 30-game opening to a campaign in program history just ahead of the 2005 and 2006 Lady Vol squads that went 27-3.
Non-Conference Record 186-80 (.699) as of 3/19/07
America East 0-0 .000 Atlantic Coast 7-9 .438 Atlantic Sun 11-0 1.000 Atlantic 10 3-0 1.000 Big East 12-7 .632 Big Sky 2-0 1.000 Big South 12-1 .923 Big Ten 8-3 .727 Big 12 9-16 .360 Big West 3-2 .600 Colonial Athletic 3-0 1.000 C-USA 12-3 .800 Horizon 3-1 .750 Metro Atlantic Ath. 0-0 .000 Mid-American 9-0 1.000 Mid-Continent 4-2 .667 Mid-Eastern Ath. 1-0 1.000 Midwestern Coll. 0-0 .000 Missouri Valley 8-7 .533 Mountain West 3-3 .500 Northeast 0-0 .000 Ohio Valley 8-1 .889 Pacific Coast 5-0 1.000 Pacific-10 4-7 .364 Patriot 3-0 1.000 Southern 5-1 .833 Southland 16-2 .882 Southwestern Ath. 2-2 .500 Sun Belt 14-5 .737 Western Athletic 7-2 .667 West Coast Conference 1-0 1.000 Independents 4-3 .571
Player, Pitcher & Freshman of the Week
Week Player Pitcher Freshman 1 (2/13) Brooke Marnitz (UK) Monica Abbott (UT) Charlotte Morgan (UA) 2 (2/20) Brittany Rogers (UA) Monica Abbott (UT) Anna Thompson (AU) 3 (3/6) Lauren Parker (UA) Dani Hofer (LS) Lindsey Walker (SC) 4 (3/13) Killian Roessner (LSU) Monica Abbott (UT) Molly Johnson (UK) 5 (3/20) Kellie Middleton (UG) Dani Hofer (LS) Charlotte Morgan (UA) 6 (3/27) Leslie Klein (LS) Mary J. Callahan (UM) Charlotte Morgan (UA 7 (4/3) 8 (4/10) 9 (4/17) 10 (4/24) 11 (5/1) 12 (5/7)