Blue and White Hot Bulldogs
At 9-1, the Butler Bulldogs are off to their best-ever start in program history. The team will look to carry the momentum of a five-game winning streak this weekend down to Madeira Beach, Florida, located about 10 miles from the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Butler comes into the tournament off a pair of wins on Monday against Western Illinois and Murray State at the home of the Racers in Murray, Kentucky.
First, the Bulldogs got their revenge on the Leathernecks, the only team to beat them this season. In that victory, junior pitcher Rylyn Dyer tossed her first career no-hitter and the first by a Butler pitcher since Karli Ricketts no-hit Green Bay in March 2019.
Second, the Bulldogs recorded a 3-0 shutout victory over the Murray State Racers. Milton, Wisconsin’s Gwen Baker allowed just three hits while striking out six and walking only two in her second complete game of the season.
Current junior and Indianapolis native Cate Lehner once again leads the Bulldogs with 19 hits through the first 10 games. She is currently 2nd in the Big East in stolen bases with a perfect 7 steals on 7 attempts, only behind UConn’s Lexi Hastings’ perfect 9 steals on 9 attempts.
Senior Ella White and sophomore Makena Alexander continue to play long ball for the Bulldogs. Both players have hit four home runs, brought in 12 runs, and have recorded multiple doubles.
Wobbly Wildcats
Butler will open tournament play on Friday morning against Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats, out of Daytona Beach, Florida, were selected to finish 3rd in the SWAC’s (Southwestern Athletic Conference) east division behind Florida A&M and Jackson State.
Bethune-Cookman enter the tournament at 4-13 and on a six-game losing streak. In five of these six losses, the Wildcats have scored 3 runs or less. Emma Bradley-Tse, a junior outfielder from Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, leads the team in hits with 16, and has brought three runs across the plate while batting .302. Fellow west-coaster Briana Velazquez, from San Pedro, California, leads the team with seven runs batted in and two doubles while also recording a .319 slugging percentage. The Wildcats also tend to run the bases well, taking 27 bags on 30 attempts.
On the rubber, senior pitcher Halyne Gonzalez has tossed a team-high 60.2 innings. She also leads the team with 27 strikeouts and has 3 of the Wildcats’ 4 wins. The other win was credited to fellow Californian Alyssa Lopez in Bethune-Cookman’s most recent victory against Stetson.
If Bethune-Cookman wants to improve to 3-1 all-time against Butler, they’ll have to get their 4.86 team ERA down and keep Cate Lehner, who is batting .475, off the basepath.
Bear(cat) Down
The second of Friday’s games will see Butler take on Binghamton. Picked to finished 2nd of 6 in the America East Conference, the Bearcats enter the tournament with an even 5-5 record, picking up a pair of wins two weeks ago against the Providence Friars in the Florida Tournament in Gainesville, Florida.
Junior Emma Lawson leads the Bearcats with 8 runs batted in, along with a team-high 5 doubles. Sophomore Elisa Allen has also provided her share of offense for Binghamton too. Despite only batting 4 for 26 (.154 average), she has hit three of the team’s four home runs this year.
On the mound, junior Brianna Roberts leads the team with a 3-1 record. The left-hander from Monroe, New York, has also recorded 13 strikeouts and has only walked six batters through 23.1 innings pitched. In her four appearances this year, she has two complete-game victories against Providence.
To back Roberts up, fellow junior Olivia Kennedy leads the team with 15 strikeouts of her own through 16.2 innings. She has also registered two complete games, a five-inning win over Chattanooga and a six-inning performance against Boston College. In those complete games, Kennedy has only allowed three runs and just one earned run.
The only previous meeting between the Bulldogs and the Bearcats was a 9-6 win for Butler back in 2006. For Binghamton to beat Butler, the Bearcats will need to maintain their team’s 2.74 ERA and rely on the offensive prowess of Emma Lawson and Elisa Allen.
Great Dane!
Saturday’s action will see a battle of dogs, as Butler will take on the Albany Great Danes. The second of New York’s America East teams are still in search of their first win of the season, currently sitting at 0-5.
The Great Danes, selected to finish 1st of 6 in the America East Conference, began their season last weekend at the Charlotte Invitational in North Carolina. The team was shutout 9-0 in just 5 innings twice against the Charlotte 49ers, along with 5-inning mercy rule losses against Ball State and Lehigh, and another 12-1 defeat to the Cardinals on Sunday.
Senior Victoria Vilarchao will be returning to her home state, looking to add to her offensive output this season. The native of Sunrise, about 45 minutes north of downtown Miami, leads the team with four hits and two runs batted in. She has also recorded two doubles and a .545 slugging percentage.
Aside from Vilarchao, Albany’s offense has been largely absent, being outscored 50-5 in the opening five games. Only one other player, Taylor Quinn, has recorded an extra base hit and just one player, Sara Anderson, has brought runs across the plate. The team is 3 for 4 in stolen base attempts, and the Great Danes have registered 21 hits in 94 plate appearances.
It has not been an easy start for Albany’s pitching core either. The Great Danes currently hold the second-worst WHIP (walk and hits per innings pitched) in Division I at 3.19, only ahead of the Manhattan Jaspers at 3.31. Despite this, freshman pitcher Hailey Errichiello leads the team with seven strikeouts through her team-high nine innings of work. Her redshirt senior teammate Kate Powers holds a team-best 6.00 ERA, allowing just six earned runs and striking out four batters in seven innings of work.
If Albany wants to slow Butler down and move to 2-0 all-time against the Bulldogs, they will need to dig deep offensively and find a way to keep Butler’s offense in check.
Louisville Sluggers
After the Bulldogs’ second match with Binghamton in this tournament on Sunday morning, they will conclude their action against Bellarmine. The Knights, from Louisville, Kentucky, will make their only trip of the season to the state of Florida this weekend, despite the Atlantic Sun Conference having three members based in the Sunshine State. (The Atlantic Sun uses divisions for its softball and baseball seasons.)
The Knights travel to Madeira Beach off the back of a crosstown clash with the Louisville Cardinals. The Cardinals won 10-0 in a 5-inning affair, holding Bellarmine to just two hits and dropping the Knights to a 1-5 record.
Senior Harlie Bickett leads the Knights’ offense with six hits and a .333 batting average through the first six games. She has also brought in 5 runs, recorded 3 doubles and stolen 4 bases on 4 attempts. Fellow senior Megan Konermann, a Louisville native, has also brought home 5 runs and hit 2 home runs while posting a .647 slugging percentage.
On the mound, graduate student and Louisville native Kelsie Houchens has Bellarmine’s lone win in a complete game against Charleston Southern on February 7th. Sophomore teammate Selena Zuniga leads the team with 15.0 innings pitched and five strikeouts.
Bellarmine and Butler met twice last season, with the Knights winning in Madeira Beach 5-1 and the Bulldogs victorious in Louisville 9-5. For Bellarmine to beat Butler, they will need to rely on the offensive production from Bickett and Konermann, along with keeping their opponent under the average of 9.3 hits per game that the Knights have posted so far.
This is the final weekend-long tournament for Butler this season. The Bulldogs will play their first home game of the season against the Indiana State Sycamores on Wednesday, March 5th, followed by their Big East Conference opening series against DePaul starting Friday, March 7th.
