Orange Head to Houston For Five Games

HOUSTON CHALLENGE

SYRACUSE VS. TEXAS TECH
Game Details: Friday, Feb. 21 – 4:30 p.m ET / 3:30 p.m. CT; Sunday, Feb. 23 – 10:30 a.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. CT
Location: Houston, TX
Feb. 21 Game Links: Live Stats
Feb. 23 Game Links: Live Stats
Syracuse Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats
Texas Tech Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats (PDF)

SYRACUSE VS. HOUSTON
Game Details: Friday, Feb. 21 – 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT
Location: Houston, TX
Feb. 21 Game Links: Watch | Live Stats
Syracuse Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats
Houston Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats

SYRACUSE VS. LOUISIANA TECH
Game Details: Saturday, Feb. 22 – 12:30 p.m. ET / CT
Location: Houston, TX
Game Links: Live Stats
Syracuse Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats
Louisiana Tech Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats

SYRACUSE VS. PRINCETON
Game Details: Saturday, Feb. 22 – 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT
Location: Houston, TX
Game Links: Live Stats
Syracuse Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats
Princeton Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Stats

HOUSTON, TEXAS – The tournament schedule for Syracuse softball (3-4) continues this weekend as the Orange travel to Texas for the Houston Challenge. 'Cuse will play five games from Friday to Sunday, including two against #20 Texas Tech, as well as Houston, Louisiana Tech and Princeton. The first pitch of the weekend is slated for Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. CT against the Red Raiders.

LAST TIME OUT
Syracuse competed in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Durham, N.C., going 1-3 in four contests against Indiana and Rutgers. The lone victory for the Orange was an eight-inning triumph over the Hoosiers, 3-2.

Freshman Rebecca Clyde and sophomore Jamie Gregg paced the Orange with seven hits in the four games over the weekend. Gregg and Gabby Teran are tops on the team with nine hits on the season and Clyde leads 'Cuse with a .348 batting average and three extra base hits. Gregg, Teran, and sophomore Alexis Kaiser share the team's lead with five runs each, Kaiser blasting her first home run of the season in Durham.

Catie Dobbs and Miranda Hearn made their first appearances in the circle this season, while Alexa Romero grabbed her 45^th win at Syracuse, the third highest in program history.
In her victory, Romero pitched all eight innings and only allowed one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts. Her 2.86 ERA and 24 strikeouts are both bests for the Orange.

SCOUTING THE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech (8-3) went 2-3 in five games at the St. Pete-Clearwater Elite Invitational and downed Kent State, 9-1, in a midweek matchup at home. The Red Raiders were victorious against No. 18/17 South Carolina and No. 15 Georgia, scoring five runs in each meeting. Tech was defeated by top-ranked Washington in eight innings, as well as No. 20 James Madison and South Florida.

The Red Raiders' offense is paced by redshirt junior captain Heaven Burton. Burton leads the team in hits (14), batting average (.359) and at-bats (39) and has scored three runs to go along with five hits in her last three starts.

Redshirt senior GiGi Wall, senior Missy Zoch, and junior Erin Edmoundson shared the circle in Clearwater. Edmoundson is 5-1 in the early-going for the Red Raiders, with a team-low 1.21 earned run average and 44 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. She's appeared in each of the last six games for Texas Tech.
Texas Tech ranks No. 20 in the latest 2020 USA Today/NFCA Top 25, as well as the ESPN.com/USA Today Poll.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
Houston (7-4) welcomed Dayton, No. 15 Oregon and Oregon State to the Houston Classic over the weekend. The Cougars were twice beaten by the Ducks, split a pair of decisions against the Beavers and took down the Flyers as part of a 2-3 showing. Houston also topped Sam Houston State, 11-3, on Wednesday at Cougar Softball Stadium.

Senior infielder Kelli Montgomery's .400 batting average and 12 hits both lead the Houston squad. She homered against Dayton and Sam Houston State, but sophomore catcher Kati Ray Brown has gone deep five times to pace the Cougars.

Houston has relied on the freshmen pitching tandem of Logan Hulon and Megan Lee. They have thrown three and four complete games, respectively, for the Cougars and Hulon has a slight team-lead in ERA (3.34) and strikeouts (30).

Houston came up with the win, 2-1, in its only meeting with the Orange in 2018.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Louisiana Tech (2-7) played in the Jaguar Classic in Alabama this past weekend against Evansville and Austin Peay. The Bulldogs went 1-2, topping the Purple Aces, 4-3, in the second meeting between the teams and lost decisively at Louisiana State, 11-0, in a midweek tilt.

Senior utility player Zoe Hicks headlines the Louisiana Tech offense with a .292 average in the batters' box and is tied with freshman Jordyn Manning with seven hits.

Bre Hernandez, Hannah Koenig and Audrey Pickett have shared almost equal time in the circle for the Bulldogs this season. Hernandez owns both wins for her team, as well as the lowest ERA (3.10) and the most strikeouts (18) for Louisiana Tech.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Princeton opens up its season at the Houston Challenge this weekend after posting a 14-27 overall record in 2019, including a 10-11 mark in Ivy League play.

The Tigers return two of the three players who finished with a batting average above .300: seniors Megan Donahey (.385) and Allison Harvey (.305).

In the circle, junior Allie Reynolds and sophomore Ali Blanchard will shoulder the load. Reynolds finished the 2019 season with a 4.72 ERA and 121 strikeouts while Blanchard finished with a 3.46 ERA and 73 punchouts.

The Orange lead the all-time series with Princeton, 2-0. Both victories came back in 2011 at a tournament at Virginia.

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Players Mentioned

Rebecca Clyde

Catie Dobbs

Jamie Gregg

Miranda Hearn

Alexis Kaiser

Alexa Romero

Gabby Teran

Syracuse University Athletics