GREENSBORO, NC – The UNC Greensboro softball team welcomes the USA National Team to UNCG Softball Stadium on Thursday night for an exhibition game as part of their “Bound 4 Beijing” pre-Olympic Tour.
Tickets for this event were sold out at tickets sales in early February but fans will be able to follow the action with LiveStats and a live webcast available at Spartan All Access. Gates will open at 5 pm and the game will get underway at 7:00 pm with a ceremonial first pitch from Greensboro Sports Commission President, Marc Bush.
UNCG enters the game with a 14-22, 1-5 SoCon record after dropping a Southern Conference series to Western Carolina last weekend. The Lady Catamounts took the first two games 10-5 and 7-6 before the Spartans claimed a 7-5 win in the rubber game for their first SoCon victory of the season.
Senior outfielder Mary Greenway is leading UNCG in just about every statistical category and ranks fifth in the Southern Conference in batting average with a .333 percentage. The Roanoke, VA native leads the team in hits (42), runs scored (22), stolen bases (34) and triples (4).
Greenway’s 34-of-34 stolen base attempts currently ranks second in the nation behind Brittany Rogers of Alabama who is 40-of-44. Last season Greenway set a new record for stolen bases in a season with 41 and currently has streak of 35 consecutive stolen bases dating back to last season. She is on pace to break the single-season record again and needs only 27 more bases to break UNCG’s career record in only two years at UNCG.
Amber Harrell is leading the Spartan pitching staff and has an 8-12 record with a 2.36 ERA. In 133.1 innings pitched this season she has allowed 66 runs on 103 hits. She has thrown 133 strikeouts this season which currently ranks eighth on UNCG’s single-season list.
The USA National Team enters the game with a 19-1 record and on a two-game win streak after posting wins over New Mexico State and Houston in their last two games. The squad had their streak of 185 pre-Olympic tour wins snapped with a 1-0 loss to Virginia Tech in Oklahoma City on March 26. Tech’s senior pitcher Angela Tincher threw a no-hitter and was one walk away from a perfect game in the victory.
The Spartans will jump back into conference play this weekend when they welcome, Georgia Southern to UNCG Softball Stadium for a weekend league series. Georgia Southern is sitting in third place in league standings and is home to reigning Player of the Week, Robyne Siliga and Pitcher of the Week Melissa Lalibertie.
The USA Team will head to Tennessee for games against the University of Tennessee and Milligan College on April 12 and 13.
- UNCG -