Softball begins UNA Invitational on Thursday - University of North Alabama Athletics (2024)

Drew Barton

Softball 3/6/2024 6:55:00 PM

Lions to play six games over three days, starting Thursday at 3 p.m.

FLORENCE, Ala. (March 6, 2024) – On a busy athletic week for the University of North Alabama, the UNA softball program will make its home debut this weekend along with five other school at the UNA Invitational, which begins Thursday, March 7 and runs through Sunday, March 10.

Due to potential weather and logistics, UNA has moved its home opener to Thursday at 3 p.m. This will be a doubleheader against Detroit Mercy at the Hilda B. Anderson Softball Stadium, located at the corner of Cox Creek Parkway and Chisholm Road.

With potential weather forcing adjustments to the schedule, UNA will play four more games after Thursday's opener. This includes an 11 a.m. matchup with Maryland Eastern Shore and a 1:30 p.m. first pitch against Southern Miss. Prior to the 1:30 p.m. game, the Lions will hold a special ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the recent renovations to the facility, including the new state-of-the-art FieldTurf.

The Lions close out the round robin tournament on Saturday with consecutive games at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. against Murray State and Maryland Eastern Shore.

Joining UNA this weekend in Florence will be Southern Miss, Samford, UMES, Murray State and Detroit Mercy. The Lions will host 15 games involving the six schools and two sites — UNA's home stadium in Florence and Northwest-Shoals Softball Field in Muscle Shoals.

The schedule is subject to change. All changes can be found on the UNA softball social media accounts or on roarlions.com.

All games at UNA's softball stadium will have live stats. All games involving UNA will be streamed on ESPN+ unless otherwise noted. Broadcast schedules are subject to change. Tickets are available for $15 and are good for the entire day of purchase.

For a full schedule, click here.

GAME 1
Detroit Mercy vs. North Alabama
Thursday, March 7, 2024
3 p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets

GAME 2
Detroit Mercy vs. North Alabama
Thursday, March 7, 2024
5 p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets

GAME 3
UMES vs. North Alabama
Friday, March 8, 2024
11 a.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets

GAME 4
Southern Miss vs. North Alabama
Friday, March 8, 2024
1:30 p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets

GAME 5
Murray State vs. North Alabama
Saturday, March 9, 2024
3 p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets

GAME 6
UMES vs. North Alabama
Saturday, March 9, 2024
5 p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets



NOTES

LAST TIME OUT: North Alabama won at least three games at a round robin tournament for the fourth consecutive weekend, going 4-1 with wins over Bradley, Army and Middle Tennessee State at the MTSU Invitational last weekend in Tennessee. Senior Felicity Frame led the offense going 9-for-17 at the plate, while the Lions got solid pitching all weekend from the likes of Alivia Wilken, Cassidy Duskin and Kyleigh Pitzer, allowing just five runs over five games combined.

SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA has a 14-6 overall record entering the home opener, including noteworthy wins over UAB, Troy, Jacksonville State, Samford and Western Kentucky. The Lions have 26 players on the roster, including 13 newcomers and 13 returning players. Of the 13 returners, six are returning starters from last season's lineup.

INCOMING TALENT: Of the 13 newcomers on the UNA roster, eight come from the junior college level and three are true freshman. The other two are redshirt freshmen from other NCAA Division I schools, including Pitzer from the University of Louisiana and Lilian Berry from Penn State. Three of the newcomers are listed as utility players.

TOUGH TO BEAT PERFECT: Making her debut in the circle for UNA in the season opener, junior transfer Alivia Wilken pitched the first perfect game in school history in a 1-0 win over Samford. She retired 21 straight hitters with three strikeouts. She went on to finish the Troy Trojan Invitational with a 2-1 record and one save over four outings, posting a 0.36 ERA over 19.2 innings.

PRESEASON POLLS: The ASUN announced its preseason information for softball last month, as North Alabama landed its highest preseason ranking of the Division I era in third place behind Central Arkansas and FGCU. Hailey Jones represented the Lions on the preseason all-conference team as an infielder and won ASUN Player of the Week back in February.

SWITCHING ROLES: One of UNA's biggest losses on the field from last season has turned into one of the biggest assets in the clubhouse, as former all-conference catcher Georgia Land joined the coaching staff in 2024. Last season, Land hit .341 from the catcher position with nine home runs, 31 RBI and 47 hits.

THE DREAM TEAM: UNA head coach Ashley Cozart enters her 11th season coaching the Lions and has a record of 365-161-1 over her first decade at UNA. In 14 total seasons of coaching, Cozart has a career record of 556-206-1 for a win percentage of 73 percent. Cozart is assisted by Whitney Hawkins in her second stint at UNA, as well as former UNA standouts Hannah Shollenberger and Georgia Land. Hawkins was assisting Cozart during the historic 2016 season when UNA won the NCAA Division II national championship with a 60-7 overall record. Shollenberger and Land were both all-conference selections at UNA under Cozart.

SCOUTING THE TITANS: Detroit Mercy is on the hunt for its first win this weekend, bringing an 0-11 record to Florence pending results today at Tennessee State. Despite the record, Detroit Mercy had tight games with MTSU last week at the MTSU Invitational, falling 3-2 and 4-0. Alison Donaugh and Amanda Schick are each hitting .308 this season with a team-high eight hits.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS: Maryland Eastern Shore enters with a 4-7 record with wins over Grambling State, Alabama A&M, Alcorn State and most recently Louisiana Christian. Last season, the Hawks finished 14-30, while pulling an upset of No. 1 seed Morgan State in the MEAC Tournament — the first tournament win in 28 years. Kelsie Ekstrom and Ameenah Ballenger are both batting over .400 this season with a combined eight doubles, five triples, two homers and 26 RBIs. Ballenger is also the leading pitcher with 34.0 innings and a 3.29 ERA.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Southern Miss rides a three-game win streak into tonight's game with Southeastern, including two wins over Samford and a win over Alcorn State. Other noteworthy wins early on include ASUN foe Jacksonville and James Madison. Southern Miss is led by Shelby Allen with a .455 batting average and Hannah Borden batting .368 with a team-high 17 hits and 16 RBIs.

SCOUTING THE RACERS: The only familiar opponent this weekend for the Lions, Murray State enters with a 9-12 record and will look to avenge a 3-1 loss to UNA back in Chattanooga last month. Murray State finished 33-21 last season. The Racers are led offensive by Taylor Jackson with a .294 average on 15 hits, while Jenna Veber has been a force in the circle with a 1.11 ERA over 69 innings. She had a 7-4 record this season with a loss to UNA.

SERIES HISTORY: UNA has a combined 7-1 record against its four opponents this weekend. This includes a 6-0 record against Murray State dating back to 2019 by a combined score of 35-7. UNA split two meetings with Southern Miss in 2022, winning 7-0 and losing 8-6 back-to-back days. Maryland Eastern Shore and Detroit Mercy are first time opponents for UNA.

For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visitwww.roarlions.comand follow UNA Athletics onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.