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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern softball team (32-20, 12-8 SSC) will host No. 5 Tampa (34-5, 19-2 SSC) this weekend for both teams’ final regular-season series. Friday’s series-opener is slated for a 7 p.m. start, while Saturday’s doubleheader is set to begin at 1 p.m. following senior day festivities.
The Sharks will honor a pair of seniors Saturday,
Katie Kelton and
Sara DeMuth. Since transferring to NSU from Broward College, Kelton has amassed 103 starts. The Pembroke Pines, Fla. native has a career batting average of .342, including hitting .366 this season, while scoring a team-high 41 runs. Kelton has been a staple in centerfield during her career with NSU and in 52 starts this season she is yet to commit a fielding error. She has 65 putouts and two outfield assists as she seeks to become the 15th NSU student-athlete to finish a season with a 1.000 fielding percentage.
DeMuth, who has played in 99 games for the Sharks since transferring to NSU from Augusta State, has become the ace of the pitching staff in 2012. DeMuth has made a NSU single-season record 42 starts and 47 appearance in the circle, brining her career totals in those categories to 62 and 71, respectively. The Plant City, Fla. native has tallied 34 wins in her career, including tying the Sharks single-season record of 25 this spring. Her most dominating characteristic has been her ability to strikeout opposing batters, as she became the first NSU pitcher to record 300 or more strikeouts in one season. With her 310 sit downs in 2012 (second in the nation), DeMuth has 431 strikeouts to her credit over the course of her career.
The Sharks have been playing some of their best softball season over the last 30 days. Since March 27, NSU has gone 12-2, to improve its overall record to 32-20. The Sharks have now surpassed the 30-win mark for the sixth straight season.
NSU has used a combination of speed, power and dynamic pitching to help power them through this late-season surge. The Sharks have two of the Sunshine State Conference’s top-six hitters in Kelton and
Lorena Spaulding (Fr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.). Spaulding is fourth in the SSC in batting average (.380) and hits (57), while Kelton ranks sixth with her .366 average and fifth with 53 hits.
The Sharks also have the conference’s home-run leader in
Laura Saladrigas (Jr., Hollywood, Fla.) to help drive in Spaulding and Kelton once on base. Saladrigas has mashed a NSU-record 13 homers this years. Saladrigas has also contributed 16.2 innings in the circle for NSU, teaming with DeMuth to allow only 15 earned runs over the last 14 games. DeMuth and Saladrigas together hold a 1.07 ERA over that span. As a team, the Sharks have outscored opponents 73-20 during the 12-2 stretch.
Tampa enters this weekend’s series as the No. 5 team in the nation and second in the South Region. The Spartans have won six straight and are winners in 10 of their last 12, after sweeping three-game series against Florida Southern and Eckerd, while taking two of three games from then No. 11 Rollins and then No. 4 Barry.
The Spartans boast the nation’s top-two pitchers in strikeouts per seven innings in Kayla Cox and Deanna Henriott. Cox is one of only four pitchers across all divisions of the NCAA currently averaging over 12 strikeouts per seven innings, at 12.2, while Henriott holds an 11.3 mark. Henriott ecplises Cox in total strikeouts, ringing up 274 (fifth in NCAA Division-II) this season in just under 170 innings pitched, while has 185 strikeouts in 106 innings.
Tampa has also committed a conference-low 20 errors this season and hold the conference’s best fielding percentage at .980. Freshman Kayleen Boatwright leads the Spartans at the plate, hitting at a .327 clip.
This series is the last opportunity for the Sharks to improve its resume for a post-season bid to the South Region tournament. The Sharks remained in eighth in this week’s regional poll and will be looking to add quality region wins against one of the best teams in the South prior to Monday’s NCAA D-II selection show, which will be shown live on NCAA.com at 10 a.m.
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