Championship Central

C-USA Post-Season Honors

LA Tech vs. UTSA (Listen Live)

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech has used motivation to his advantage all season long.

This weekend will be no different as the Lady Techster softball team competes in the Conference USA Tournament in Miami starting with Thursday's first round matchup against UTSA. First pitch is slated for 5:30 p.m. CT and the game can be heard live on the LA Tech Sports Network on ESPN 97.7 FM with Malcolm Butler providing the call of the action.

After missing last year's tournament (only the top eight out of 12 teams qualify), head coach Mark Montgomery's ladies entered fall practice last September with the team slogan of "Meet Me at the Beach", referring to their goal of qualifying for this week's tournament in Miami.

And after winning only 19 games in 2014, including only six Conference USA games, Louisiana Tech took a major step forward in the third season under Montgomery, winning 31 games and posting a 12-9 mark in league contests. Tech entered the final weekend of the regular season with a chance to finish first in the West Division before falling in three straight contests against UTSA and ending third in the West and sixth overall.

Not that the Lady Techsters needed any more motivation, but the league coaches presented the team with some added ammunition when LA Tech failed to have a single player among the 22 first and second team all-conference selections released by the league office Wednesday.

"I couldn't be any more proud of what this team has accomplished to this point of the season," Montgomery said. "We have taken some major strides forward with this program this year and the credit goes to these 19 young ladies and how hard they have worked starting way back last summer. It's a testament to their dedication.

"I told the team this morning before practice that we don't need anyone else's validation on how good we are as individuals and as a team. It's not about using this as motivation necessarily. It's about using it to refocus ourselves on our goals this week."

In order to get past Thursday's first round opponent, Tech will have to play better than it did last week when it saw UTSA outscore it 23-6 in the three-game sweep. The Roadrunners hit .410 for the weekend with nine home runs - UTSA leads Conference USA with 81 home runs (Tech is second with 46).

Randee Crawford (.281, 18 HR, 62 RBI), Megan Low (.354, 16 HR, 40 RBI), Courtney Buchman (.331, 11 HR, 44 RBI), Tess Soefje (.236, 9 HR, 29 RBI) and Vivian Tijernia (.329, 8 HR, 38 RBI) are the main power sources for UTSA.

In the circle, the Roadrunners are paced by Kacy Freeze (10-4, 3.11 ERA) and Nicole Merrill (10-7, 3.14 ERA).

Tech will counter with an offensive lineup that has been productive for most of the season, led by Bianca Duran (.366, 9 HR, 38 RBI), Tori Charters (.363, 28 runs), Krysta Tutsch (.354, 9 HR, 28 RBI), Karlee Jensen (.350, 23 RBI), Anna Cross (.315, 6 HR, 27 RBI, 21 SB), Pauline Tufi (.276, 12 HR, 45 RBI) and Janine Godwin (.273, 4 HR, 19 RBI).

The Lady Techsters will ride the arm of senior Bianca Duran (14-12, 2.79 ERA) although Montgomery will utilize Bailey Allen (7-3, 2.64 ERA), Tufi (7-2, 3.24 ERA, 6 saves) and Carolina Sanchez (3-1, 3.54 ERA).

UTSA leads the all-time series against LA Tech 15-2.

Fans can follow in-game updates through social media at @LATechSB.