Hatters Travel to Lipscomb to Battle the Bisons

It has been quite awhile since the Hatters have played a game on the road: six weeks, in fact, since the Stetson softball team swept a five-game tournament at ESPN's Wide World of Sports in February. The Hatters then enjoyed a 22-game homestand throughout the month of March.

Stetson will now play its next six games on the road beginning with a three-game series against the Lipscomb Lady Bisons this weekend at Draper Diamond in Nashville, Tenn. The teams will play a doubleheader at 2 p.m. ET Saturday with live coverage of both games on WatchESPN. Sunday's series finale will begin at Noon ET.

Stetson (23-9, 1-2 ASUN) is coming off hard-fought series against Kennesaw State in which the Owls won a pair of 10-inning games. Stetson's lone victory in the series came via a 3-0 shutout.

Lipscomb (27-11, 3-3 ASUN) has played two ASUN series on the road, winning one series at Jacksonville and dropping one at USC Upstate. The Lady Bisons also fell 5-0 in a midweek neutral site game against Alabama on Wednesday.

The Hatters enter the weekend ranked 16th in the nation in scoring (6.3 runs-per-game) and third in stolen bases (102). Senior Jessie TenBroeck leads the NCAA with a 1.16 steals-per-game average.

Senior Kelsey Waters has been a consistent force at the plate this season, batting .417 with six triples, four home runs and 24 RBI. She leads the league with a .495 on-base percentage.

The Hatters also expect the return this weekend of sophomore Ashly Smith, who has been out of action for four weeks with an illness. Smith is batting .415 with four home runs and 22 RBI on the season.

In the circle, Stetson pitchers combined for a 1.04 ERA in the first weekend of conference play. Sophomore Brooke Hutto leads the team with 12 victories and a 2.15 ERA.

Stetson leads the all-time series 20-18 over Lipscomb. The Hatters won three of the four meetings last year, including a 5-0 shutout in the ASUN tournament.

In addition to the ESPN3 broadcasts on Saturday, live stats, the @StetsonSoftball twitter feed, and the HatCheck text messaging system will provide live updates as well.

Team Stolen Bases
Stetson ranks third the NCAA with 102 stolen bases:
120 - Marshall
105 - UT Martin
102 - Stetson
The Hatters have already reached the 100-steal mark for the second year in a row and for the fourth time in school history.

Hatters vs. Lipscomb
Last year against the Lady Bisons, Tori Perkins was 3-0 with two shutouts and a 0.33 ERA. Ashly Smith batted .385 with a home run and three RBI.

Last Road Home Run
Stetson has not hit a home run on the road since the 2015 ASUN tournament when Demi Meza hit a home run against UNF on May 7. The Hatters have gone 26 road games since without a home run.

Milestone Watch
Jessie TenBroeck needs two hits for 200 career
Jessie TenBroeck needs five steals to tie the ASUN career record
Frank Griffin needs four wins for 700 at Stetson

Stetson By The Numbers
This season, the Hatters are:
•   22-2 when scoring four runs or more
•   17-1 when scoring first
•   15-0 when scoring in the first inning
•   16-0 when leading after five innings
•   17-0 when leading after six innings

Up Next:
Stetson will visit USC Upstate for a three-game series next Friday and Saturday, with all three games broadcast on WatchESPN.

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