April 24, 2014
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LOS ANGELES - The final road trip of the 2014 season takes the LMU softball team to Provo, Utah, for a three-game West Coast Conference series at BYU. Due to expected inclement weather on Saturday, the series schedule has shifted to a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 3:30 p.m. local, 2:30 Pacific, and will conclude with a single game Saturday at noon. All three games will air live on BYUtv and web streamed at byutv.org.
The Lions enter this weekend with a 20-22 overall record and 1-8 mark in WCC play. The young squad recently snapped a six-game losing streak with a thrilling 2-1, 10-inning win over Pacific before dropping three close games at San Diego last weekend.
Meghan Harman continues to provide the most consistent bat for the Lions. Entering the weekend, the senior third baseman ranks fourth in the WCC with her .358 average. She also tops the league in slugging percentage (.689), runs (29) and home runs (10) while ranking second in on base percentage (.469) and third in RBIs (27).
Junior second baseman Sterling Shuster is the only other Lion batting over .300 (.309) while freshman Alex Finie ranks in a tie for first in the WCC with 10 doubles.
Working without the services of ace pitcher Sydney Gouveia (12-2, 0.74 ERA) since April 5, the Lion staff has relied heavily on freshman Rachael Farrington (6-9, 4.25 ERA) and sophomore Stephanie Crist (1-10, 4.24 ERA).
BYU enters the week with a 22-21 overall record and 4-2 WCC record, good for third place in the league standings. The Cougars are led at the plate by Sydney Broderick (.377) and McKenzie St. Clair (.317). Additional big bats for BYU include Katie Manuma who leads the team with seven home runs to go along with nine doubles, and Ashley Robinson who had a team high 10 doubles.
LMU and BYU have met just 16 times over the years with the Cougars holding a 12-4 edge in the all-time series. Last year, the first time the teams had met as conference rivals (as members of the Pacific Coast Softball Conference), the squads split a four-game series in Provo.
