Feb. 12, 2008
RUSTON - Louisiana Tech returns to the playing field Wednesday when the Lady Techsters host North Texas in a 2 p.m. doubleheader at the Lady Techster Softball Complex.
Tech (2-2) opened its 2008 season this past weekend, splitting four games at the Louisiana Tech Invitational as the Lady Techsters swept I-20 rival UL-Monroe and fell twice to 24th ranked UL-Lafayette.
Lady Techster head coach Sarah Dawson said she was pleased with what she saw from her team in the opening weekend but knows there is still plenty of work to do.
"There are still some defensive issues we have to address as a team," Dawson said. "We made some errors this weekend. We played some good competition and they challenged us defensively at times and we didn't always make the plays we needed to make. We have to focus on playing perfect defense for 21 outs."
North Texas (2-2) also opened its season by hosting a tournament last weekend as the Mean Green defeated Creighton (3-0) and Tulsa (7-5) on the first day before falling to Tulsa (6-4 in 10 innings) and Texas State (5-2) on the final day.
The Mean Green belted four home runs during the weekend and received some stellar pitching from ace Kristina Fowler (1-1), who allowed only eight hits and four earned runs in 16 innings of action.
Dawson said she knows that North Texas has some outstanding pitchers and that her hitters will have to continue to mature.
"Offensively, we will always have to adjust to the other teams pitchers," Dawson said. "That's a challenge for us. I thought we did a good job of that this weekend. We saw a variety of pitching, and I think we made adjustments. North Texas has a good staff; we saw them last year."
Sophomore shortstop Amberly Waits was Tech's most productive hitter during the opening weekend, registering four hits in 11 at bats while blasting a home run, driving in a team-high five and scoring twice. Waits also registered two steals.
Dawson said she plans on starting junior Krissi Oliver and sophomore Mandi Berstch in the two games.
North Texas leads the all-time series 3-1 with the two teams splitting last year in Denton.
Tech fans can follow all the action via live stats on www.latechsports.com.
