University of North Florida
Jacksonville
Softball to Wrap Season with River City Rumble at Jacksonville
5/3/2011 2:32:02 PM | Softball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida softball team (24-29, 8-10 A-Sun) is set to wrap up its season with a road battle against crosstown Atlantic Sun Conference rival Jacksonville (36-14, 14-2 A-Sun) on Wednesday, May 4. This season's SunTrust River City Rumble “Battle of the Barrel” doubleheader is set to take place at the JU Softball Complex with the first pitch of game one slated for 6 p.m. (ET).
The Ospreys have unfortunately already been eliminated from the A-Sun Conference Tournament despite doing what it needed to do to extend its postseason hopes. Even though North Florida swept Stetson last Saturday, Mercer did the only thing that would eliminate the Ospreys prior to the Jacksonville games by sweeping Kennesaw State.
Even if North Florida were to sweep Jacksonville, Mercer, Kennesaw State and North Florida would be in a three-way tie for the final two spots with Mercer and Kennesaw State winning the tiebreakers due to records against the other two teams in the tie. Jacksonville, however, has a chance to win the regular season conference title if the Dolphins can claim just two of its final four home games against North Florida and Stetson.
The Ospreys enter the weekend after having swept its second A-Sun foe of the 2011 season last Saturday. The squad swept Stetson behind the arm of freshman Cortney Radke who pitched all 14 innings and allowed just one run, while fanning 24 batters. At the plate, junior Kaley Brosky was equally outstanding, batting .857 (6-for-7) with one triple, two RBI and scoring three runs.
On the season, Radke leads North Florida in the circle, pitching 258.1 innings this season and boasting an ERA of 2.09. Radke has tallied seven shutouts in 26 complete games on the year and has fanned a program record 303 batters this year en route to a record of 22-18. At the plate, freshman Lauren Pollack is hitting a team-high .292 on the season with 11 doubles and 19 RBI.
Jacksonville is paced at the plate by Sarah Simon who is hitting .371, smacking eight homeruns on the year to go along with 10 doubles, three triples and 34 RBI. As a team, the Dolphins have scored 222 runs on the year, while allowing opponents to plate just 89. Sarah Sigrest has worked the most time in the circle, hurling 176.1 innings to an impressive record of 20-5 and ERA of 1.11 entering weekend play.
Though both schools are in Jacksonville, Fla., the two teams have met on the diamond just 10 times with North Florida holding a considerable 8-2 advantage over Jacksonville. The Dolphins two wins came on April 6, 2007 at home and on the road last year on April 6, 2010.
Fans can follow the games via live stats on JUDolphins.com or watch the contest on A-Sun.TV.
