The Temple College softball team, ranked seventh in the latest NJCAA Division Top 25 poll, will host No. 7 Grayson College in a North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference doubleheader on Friday at the Danny Scott Sports Complex.
Game one is slated for a noon first pitch, with the second game commencing 30 minutes after the completion of game one.
Temple (29-5 overall, 9-1 NJTCJAC) split with the Grayson (31-5 overall, 10-4 NTJCAC) on Wednesday in Denison. The Leopards won game one in six innings, 10-2, and the Vikings won game two, 11-5.
The matchup features plenty of firepower, which was on display on Wednesday.
Through 36 games, Temple is hitting .393 with an on-base percentage of .463 and slugging percentage of .630. The Leopards have homered 36 times, driven in 261 runs, scored 295 times on 356 hits, 66 doubles, 20 triples, have walked 112 times and have stolen 133 bases.
Lexi Dudeczka (.500 BA, .558 OBP, HR, 23 RBI, 18 SB, 16 walks), Izzy Garcia (.500 BA, .558 OBP, three HR, 17 RBI), Reese Cottrell (.459 BA, .529 OBP, seven HR, 42 RBI, 18 walks, 16 doubles), Jasmine Benavidez (.429 BA, .508 OBP, seven HR, 45 RBI, six triples, 16 SB, 14 walks), Kaiyah Ratu (.410 BA, .507 OBP, six HR, 25 RBI, 12 walks), Brooklyn Walton (.400 BA, .434 OBP, HR, 13 RBI, 15 SB), and Marli Kennedy (.344 BA, .392 OBP, two HR, 19 RBI, 23 SB) are amongst the key contributors in the Temple offense.
Through 34 games, Grayson is hitting .362 with an on-base percentage of .444 and slugging percentage of .576. The Vikings have homers 36 times, driven home 244 runs, scored 275 times on 336 hits, 71 doubles, 10 triples, walked 121 times and have stolen 52 bases.
Aniyah Pequeno (.475 BA, .53 OBP, 15 RBI, 12 walks, 15 SB), Mia Krueger (.457 BA, .557 OBP, seven HR, 36 RBI, 21 wallks, nine doubles), Matti Matthews (.446 BA, .460 OBP. 38 RBI, 18 doubles), Addyson Cox (.369 BA, .471 OBP, two HR 18 RBI), Jaclyn Draeger (.317 BA, .387 OBP, six HR, 34 RBI), and Willa Ford (.286 BA, .419 OBP, eight HR, 27 RBI, 19 walks) are amongst the leaders on offense.
Defensively, the Leopards are tops in the country in fewest errors with 16 in 790 total chances (.980 fielding percentage), while the Vikings are nearby with 29 errors in 759 total chances (.962 fielding percentage).
In pitching, Grayson has a team earned run average of 1.45 and have 23 complete games in 208 innings pitched. They have allowed 63 runs (43 earned) on 120 hits, struck out 244 batters, have walked 55 and hit 17 batters. Teams hit just .154 against Vikings pitching.
Natalie Moreaux (13-2, 0.83 ERA, 101 IP, 15 runs, 12 earned on 34 hits, struck out 149, walked 32, hit 11 batters), and Riley Mays (16-1, 2.03 ERA, 89 2/3 IP, 34 runs allowed, 26 earned on 72 hits, struck out 84, and walked 17) carry the workload in the circle for Grayson.
Temple has a team ERA of 2.71 with 12 shutouts, and 12 complete games in 204 innings pitched. The Leopards have allowed 92 runs (79 earned) on 150 hits, struck out 200 hitters, walked 76, and hit 13 batters. Teams hit just .191 against the Leopards staff.
Garcia (12-1, 2.36 ERA, 6 CG, 74 IP, 30 runs allowed, 25 earned on 47 hits, struck out 94, walked 24), Kat Kram (9-2, 3.00 ERA, 56 IP, 28 runs allowed, 24 earned on 43 hits, struck out 67, walked 22), and Cottrell (6-2, 2.66 ERA, 47 1/3 IP, allowed 21 runs, 18 earned on 34 hits, struck out 31 and walked 20) carry the workload for the Temple staff.