ADA – For the second time in 2017 the East Central University softball team will be facing a nationally ranked opponent, as No. 6 Harding comes to town for a four-game Great American Conference series at Tiger Field. Double headers are set for April 7-8, with Friday's starting at 2 p.m. and Saturday's at noon.
The Tigers are coming off a busy week, falling in all four games at Arkansas Tech over the weekend before coming home for a double header against rival Southeastern that was split Tuesday, April 4.
In the past six games freshman
Catherine Barrera has led the Tigers with a .308 average, four hits and two RBIs. Sophomore
Ellanee Allison has added a .294 average, five hits, a home run, two runs and an RBI.
Senior
Kelbie Crelia went 1-1 in the circle, appearing in three games, throwing 13.2 innings, allowing nine hits and four runs and striking out seven. She also saw action at the plate in one game, hitting .333 with a hit.
ECU is now 20-18 overall, 11-15 in league play and sitting in fifth in the standings. There is a month left in the regular season, with the top-eight teams making the GAC Championship Tournament.
Harding is the top team in the conference, with a 35-3 overall record and a 25-1 mark in the league. The Bisons lost an extra-inning game to Southwestern in the opening GAC game of the season and has rattled off 25 wins since (Feb. 24).
As a team, Harding is hitting .329 and allowing just a .209 average by the opposition. Peyton Mills and Alexus Lawellin are both hitting over .400 for the season. Mills has a .444 average, 55 hits, 36 runs and 39 RBIs. Lawellin adds a .421 average, 28 runs, 45 hits and 23 RBIs.
The Bisons have just three pitchers on staff, with two pitching over 100 innings and third just 16.0. Autumn Humes has seen the most action, 130.1 innings, 86 hits and 32 runs allowed, a 17-1 record, 1.66 ERA, 16 complete games, eight shutouts and 161 strikeouts. Hannah Johnson adds a 1.39 ERA, 17-1 record, 10 complete games, seven shutouts, 96 hits and 29 runs allowed and 64 Ks in 111.0 innings of work.
Since 2014 the teams have met on 14 previous occasions, with the Tigers trailing by a 6-7 mark overall, but have a 6-6 record when playing as league opponents. This week's games will be the first played in Ada, after the last series that was set to be played in Ada was moved to a neutral site due to weather.
In 2016 Harding won three of the four games in Searcy, with ECU winning the previous four at the neutral site in 2015.
