It's been one of the best weeks of the season for the University of Memphis softball team, which snapped a nine-game losing streak to Houston Sunday and shut out Mississippi Valley State Tuesday.
However, the week isn't over yet, and Tigers (19-24, 3-8 AAC) will close out the week in Piscataway, N.J, with a pivotal conference-road swing against Rutgers.
Memphis currently sits at seventh place in the American, but a series win over the Scarlet Knights could vault the Tigers into fourth or fifth place depending on what happens around the rest of the league.
The Tigers began the week with a walk-off win over the conference-leading Houston Cougars (26-12, 11-1 AAC) on Sunday. After loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh, the U of M capitalized on a Cougar error to win the game.
Memphis continued to roll on Tuesday with a 4-0 win over Mississippi Valley State (7-32). Freshmen Christian Novak and Calli Irvin combined to throw a shutout for the Tigers.
Memphis head coach Natalie Poole thought her team performed well, but she would have liked them to put runs on the board earlier in the game.
"I was a little worried there for a second, because even while I felt like we were pitching good and we were playing good defense, it was a bit frustrating not to put runs up," Poole said after the game. "We had runners in scoring position those first two innings. We just couldn't score the runs whenever we needed to."
Novak has a 3.44 ERA and 9-7 record. She said she felt extremely comfortable with each pitch she tossed against Mississippi Valley.
"I feel like we mixed up pitches really well," Novak said after the game. "They did a good job calling. I was comfortable out there. We had a few times where we had issues, but all in all I felt really good."
Sophomore Cierra Mangum led the Tigers' offense with two hits and two runs. Mangum is hitting .277 on the year with 12 RBIs.
Alongside Mangum, freshmen Lindsay Crowdus and Brittany Vaughn have helped anchor the Memphis offense. Crowdus has posted the best numbers this season from plate, batting .373 with a .430 on base percentage. Vaughn has batted .303 in her debut season to go along with a team-high 26 RBIs.
Despite Novak's strong showing on Tuesday, senior Ellen Roberts has proved to be the Tigers ace all season long. She recently became the program's all-time wins and strikeouts leader, and she has a 2.51 ERA this year. Poole and the Tigers will certainly need her to show up big this weekend at Rutgers.
Rutgers junior centerfielder Jackie Bates leads the American with a .421 batting average. She is also one of the best sluggers in the country, averaging .38 doubles per game for 11th best in the nation.
Junior Alyssa Landrith has compiled the best record from the circle for the Scarlet Knights. She won 12 games so far this season compared to only six losses.
Novak said the team isn't nervous, and the win over Houston showed the Tigers the potential they have when they play well.
This weekend's first pitch is on Friday at 11 a.m. The two teams will play a second game immediately afterwards on Friday, and they will close the series out at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Following this weekend's series, the Blue and Gray has just two conference matchups remaining before the AAC Tournament on May 8. As the season winds down, each game gains more and more postseason implications.
