Tigers Return Home To Host Blues City Classic

Friday, March 3

Memphis, Tenn.

6 PM

University of Memphis

Belmont

Photo by: Taylor Jones

Mar 02, 2017 | Softball

Blues City Classic

This weekend kicks off three straight weekends at home for Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis softball team will have the opportunity to play on its home field this weekend as the Tigers welcome five schools in for the Blues City Classic March 3-5. Participating schools are Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Belmont, Louisiana Tech, Tennessee State, and Wright State. Memphis will play all five opponents once throughout the course of the weekend at the Tigers Softball Complex.

Tournament Central

Quick Hitters

Memphis enters the weekend with a 4-7 overall record after falling to a pair of SEC opponents and FAU last weekend.
The Tigers are now at home for the next three weekends with three home tournaments. The next road game for Memphis is at Belmont on March 21.
Lindsay Crowdus leads the team offensively with a .469 batting average and 15 hits. She is also a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases.
Four total Tigers are hitting over .300 and one is just shy of that mark. Kyler Trosclair, Rebeca Melton, and Addison Maxwell are over .300 hitters while freshman Erin Parker sits at .294.
The Tiger pitching staff has a combined 3.29 ERA with 43 strikeouts.
Memphis is a combined 23-7 all-time against the five teams attending the Blues City Classic. Memphis is undefeated against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Wright State. Tennessee State has taken the most games (four) off of Memphis.
Memphis was picked to finish fifth in the American Athletic Conference standings as voted on by the conference's head coaches.
Head coach Natalie Poole is in her sixth season at the helm of the Tiger program.

A Look At The Competition
Arkansas Pine-Bluff

Arkansas-Pine Bluff has a 2-12 overall record with wins against Samford and Texas Wesleyan. Samford was an NCAA Tournament team last season.
Tonnay Hawkins leads the team offensively with a .462 batting average and 18 hits. Paige Garcia has driven in a team-high 16 runs with five home runs this season.

Belmont

Belmont has started the season off in a solid fashion with an 11-1 overall record. The Bruins are 7-1 at home and 3-0 in neutral site games.
Eleven members of the squad are hitting over .300 led by Lexi Rouse's .488 average. Nine players have recorded double-digits hits led by Rouse's 20.
Chelsey Deloney has already hit six home runs this season.
The Bruins have a team ERA of 2.82 this season. Three pitchers have recorded over 17 innings of work.

Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech is 11-6 overall and 10 of its games played this season have been at home.
Jazlyn Crowder carries a .367 batting average with a team-high 22 hits, dive doubles, and two home runs.
Tori Charters, who has a .333 batting average, has stolen a team-high eight bases this year. Louisiana Tech as a whole has 29 stolen bases already.
Preslee Gallaway leads the Lady Techsters in the circle with a 2.47 ERA in 56.2 innings pitched.

Tennessee State

Tenneesee State has a 4-9 overall record. The Tigers are 1-8 at home, 2-0 on the road, and 1-1 in neutral site games.
Danica Gleason leads the team with 15 hits and nine runs driven in.
Tori Hart has seen the most time in the circle for the Tigers with 33.1 innings pitched. She also leads the team with a 3.99 ERA.

Wright State

Wright State comes into the weekend with a 2-9 overall record. Five players for the Raiders are averaging over .300 with Macy Cook leading the way.
Cook has a .387 batting average with a team-high 12 hits. Honnah Susor has drawn a team-high 10 walks and has stolen two of the team's six stolen bases this year.

Final Details
The Tigers begin play against Belmont Friday evening at 6 p.m. at the Tigers Softball Complex. Every Memphis game will be live streamed on www.gotigersgo.com/watch and live stats for the entire weekend are available at www.gotigersgo.com.

Admission is free for all games at the Tigers Softball Complex. For more information about the Tigers, follow Memphis softball on Facebook and Twitter at @MemphisSoftball.