The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Sports

SCHLOPY

The last time the No. 8 Georgia softball team took the field in Athens, it saw its undefeated home record fall to unranked Mississippi State.

But the Bulldogs hope to begin a new home winning streak as they welcome Western Carolina tonight at the Georgia Softball Complex.

The Catamounts (11-27) will be travelling to play the highest-ranked opponent it has faced the entire season. In fact, Georgia (33-8, 14-6 SEC) is the only squad Western Carolina has faced that was ranked at the time of the game. Georgia enters the contest placed in the top 10 nationally in team batting average (.333), scoring (6.95 runs per game) and slugging percentage (.606). The lineup has few holes, and even those have been closing rapidly with the recent performances by freshmen Kristyn Sandberg and Tori Moody, who combined had 15 RBIs last weekend against Auburn.

Bad news for Western Carolina: Its pitching numbers have provided a gaping hole this season. The Catamounts have allowed more runs than any other team in their conference en route to reaching a team ERA of 5.03, and not a single pitcher on their roster sports a winning record.

The Catamount pitchers will be challenged immediately in the lineup by sophomore Taylor Schlopy, who has become one of the best lead-off hitters nationally. She continues to impress with her numbers (.427, 10 home runs, 32 RBIs) as she leads the nation in runs per game. Georgia's offense has been most effective when Schlopy is punishing pitchers from the first at-bat of the ball game.

Western Carolina's offense mostly has been provided by their version of the "Big Three" - Chelsea Schaffer, Mollie Fowler and Amber Hawkins. Each player has hit higher than the .300 mark for the season and combine to account for exactly half of the Catamounts' entire offense (65 of the total 130 RBIs).

Expect whoever pitches for the Bulldogs - Christie Hamilton, Sarah McCloud, Erin Arevalo or Schlopy - to focus on shutting down this trio of Catamounts.

Record Watch: Sophomore Alisa Goler needs just one home run to tie the school single-season mark of 16 set by Megan McAllister.

The third baseman also needs only four more RBIs to break the Georgia single-season record of 65 set by Kim Wendland in 2004.

The game is set to start at 5 p.m. at the Georgia Softball Stadium.

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