University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers to Play Five in South Carolina
3/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 13, 2014
 | (18/21) Minnesota at the Chanticleer Showdown/South Carolina |
| Date | Friday, March 14-Wednesday, March 19 |
| Locations | CCU Softball Field (Conway, S.C.) Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field (Columbia, S.C.) |
| Last Meeting | Georgia State: Lost 2-1 (March 25, 1997) Coastal Carolina: Won 4-3 in eight innings (Feb. 8, 2008) Troy: First Meeting South Carolina: Won 11-4 (Feb. 28, 2014) |
| Opponent Previews (Chanticleer Showdown) | Georgia State | Coastal Carolina | Troy |
| Gopher Game Day Live (Chanticleer Showdown) | Fri.: Georgia State Sat.: Coastal Carolina | Troy Sun: Troy |
| Tourament Central | Click Here |
After posting its best 20-game start ever, the No. 18/21 Minnesota softball team will trek to South Carolina for four games at Coastal Carolina's Chanticleer Classic before a tilt Wednesday against South Carolina. Friday kicks the week off with a 10 a.m. CT game against Georgia State. The Gophers play twice Saturday, starting with a 1:30 p.m. CT game against Troy that is followed by a contest against host CCU. Minnesota finishes tournament play Sunday at 9 a.m. against Troy and will have its last pre-Big Ten game Wednesday against the Gamecocks.
About Minnesota
No. 17/20 Minnesota is 17-3 for the first time in school history after a 5-0 trip to Baton Rouge for LSU's Tiger Classic, a 3-1 visit to UNLV's Easton Desert Classic, a 4-0 stint at UNC-Greensboro, a 3-1 excursion to Arizona State's Louisville Slugger Classic, and 2-1 record at last weekend's Mizuno Classic in Stillwater, Okla. The Gophers have five players who have played in all 20 games who are hitting better than .300 on the season and have a team ERA of 1.94, the third best in the Big Ten. The Maroon and Gold leads the conference is home runs hit with 24 and in pitcher strikeouts with 180.
About Georgia State
Following a to defeat at the hands of Mississippi State Wednesday, GSU comes into the Chanticleer Showdown with a 11-9 ledger in 2014. Georgia State leads the Sun Belt Conference with a batting average of .317 and is paced by Taylor Anderson's .417 batting average, which is good for third in the conference. Lauren Coleman is second with a .390 average and is tied for the Sun Belt lead with 25 RBI.
About Coastal Carolina
The tournament host Chanticleers come into the weekend with a 16-6 record that includes a 15-4 mark at home. CCU last played Wednesday, posting a 3-0 win over North Carolina behind a no-hitter by Kiana Quolas, who is 10-3 with a 1.06 ERA and 80 strikeouts this season. Bri Chiusano paces the team at the plate with a .453 average, while Kory Hayden is .379 with 10 home runs.
About Troy
After a 4-1 trip to Central Florida's Knights Spring Fling a week ago followed by a road loss to Auburn, the Trojans enter the weekend with a 13-12-2 record. TU is 10 -2-1 in neutral site games. Troy is led the season by reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week Ebony Wright, who is hitting .361 on the season. Freshman Michelle Phelps leads the team with four home runs and 23 RBI.
About South Carolina
South Carolina snapped a five-game losing streak with Tues.'s 8-0 (5) win over Eastern Kentucky and is now is 15-7 on the year with a 10-1 record at home. This year's 14-2 start is bettered only by a 12-1 mark by the 2009 team in the last six years. Kaylea Snaer leads the team with a .358 average and Julie Sarratt is tops on the team in the circle with a 2.11 ERA with 65 strikeouts. Nicky Blue, who lost to the Gophers two weeks ago, is 9-3 with a 2.80 ERA.
Against the Field
Minnesota has only played a total of seven games against Chanticleer Showdown teams, registering a 5-2 record. The Gophers are 2-1 against GSU, but the Panthers captured a win in the teams' last meeting March 25, 1997 after falling in the first game of the schools' doubleheader. Minnesota improved to 3-1 against Coastal Carolina with a 4-3, eight-inning win Feb. 8, 2008 and has never played Troy. It is 1-2 against South Carolina after an 11-4 victory in Tempe, Ariz. Feb. 28.
In the Polls
The Gophers are ranked in the top-25 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2003. Minnesota is No. 21 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 after a three-week stay at No. 20. The Gophers have played three ranked teams this year, downing then-No. 17/19 LSU and then-No. 3 Arizona State (both on the road) and falling to top-ranked Florida.
Hot Start in the Circle
Adding to a solid 4-0 start to the year for freshman Sara Groenewegen and a 2-1 start for sophomore Nikki Anderson, Sara Moulton has been one of the top pitchers in the nation thus far in 2014. Moulton, 11-2, has 101 strikeouts in 13 starts and has yielded just six extra-base hits in 75 innings of work. Her eight complete games and seven shutouts have helped her maintain a 1.59 ERA. In addition to a no-hitter, she has pitched a perfect game into the seventh inning of two games, helping her to two Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Awards.
Resetting the Records
Sara Moulton's hot start has her moving up in the school's record books. Her 11 wins gave given her 96 for her career, moving her past pitching coach Piper Ritter for the most all-time (Ritter had 88). She also leads Gopher softball with 42 shutouts and 99 complete games. Her 1,041 career strikeouts are second-most all-time behind Ritter's 1,122. Moulton and Ritter are the only two Gopher pitchers to surpass 1,000 Ks.
Walker Richardson Dangerous at the Plate
First Team All-Big Ten junior infielders Kaitlyn Richardson and Tyler Walker have stormed out of the gate in 2014. Richardson is hitting .446 with a .556 on-base percentage and 24 RBI through 20 games. Walker, who has hit .381 with a .453 OBP has upped her career run total to 120 with a team-high 21 on the young season and has three triples. Walker has 22 career home runs to tie for fourth in program history and Richardson has 24 for third in addition to 105-career RBI. Walker led off the first four weekend tournaments for the Gophers by being hit by a pitch, stealing a base, and coming around to score.
100 for Allister
Minnesota head coach Jessica Allister surpassed 100 wins on the team's first day of the season in Baton Rouge with the team's 1-0 win over the host Tigers. Her ledger as the team's head coach now stands at 115-68. She is in her fourth season.
On the Docket
Next week, Minnesota will begin Big Ten play with a series at perennial power Nebraska. The Gophers will play a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series in Lincoln, Neb.
