May 7, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University softball team will begin its quest for an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament on Thursday as the Bulldogs square off against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at 10 a.m., in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to be held at University Field in Jacksonville, Ala.

Fans unable to attend Thursday's OVC opener can listen live to Samford's radio broadcast on WVSU 91.1 FM or via the internet at www.samford.edu/groups/wvsu/sports.

Samford (23-27, 14-13 OVC) heads into the six-team postseason competition as one of the hottest teams in the conference. The Bulldogs have won nine of their previous 12 games, including a must-win, three-game sweep against UT Martin last week.

With its three do-or-die victories at UT Martin, Samford rallied to earn the sixth-and-final spot in the OVC Tournament.

In its five years as a member of the OVC, Samford has compiled a 3-6 postseason record. The Bulldogs have tallied a 1-2 record in each of their previous three appearances in the OVC Tournament.

Against Eastern Kentucky (28-20, 17-10 OVC), Samford's first-round opponent, the Bulldogs own a 1-2 OVC Tournament record. Samford lost to Eastern Kentucky 4-0 in 2004, but then defeated the Colonels 4-2 in 2005. Last season, Eastern Kentucky knocked Samford out of the OVC Tournament with a slim 3-2 victory.

Earlier this year, the Bulldogs played a three-game OVC series against the Colonels on the road in Richmond, Ky. Samford finished the series with a 1-2 record, but exploded for 16 runs in three games.

In the series opener, the Bulldogs scored a season-high 11 runs and picked up a key 11-5 victory. In game two, the Colonels hit a walk-off grand slam to come from behind for a 7-4 win before they earned a 2-1 pitching-duel victory in the rubber game.

Samford trails Eastern Kentucky 7-12 in the all-time series between the teams.

Eastern Kentucky heads into this week's OVC Tournament as the No. 3-seeded squad in the six-team field. The Colonels boast the No. 1-ranked offense in the conference and are batting .312 as a team. Despite its offensive prowess, Eastern Kentucky has been defeated in five of its previous eight games, including four of its last six contests.

The Bulldogs' Jessica Owens is having one of the best seasons in school history.

Not only is Samford's speedy leftfielder from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., leading the team with a .333 batting average, but she is also only five hits shy of setting the school's all-time record in the category. Owens heads into the OVC Tournament with 55 hits and is within striking distance to surpass Kelly Smith's 2002 all-time best mark of 59.

In Owens' three seasons as a Bulldog, she has compiled stolen-base totals of 15, 19 and now 20. On Sunday, she tallied her school-record 20th stolen base of the season against UT Martin and surpassed her own previous single-season record of 19, which she set last year. Owens is Samford's all-time stolen-base leader with a career total of 54.

Samford's Katie England, a hometown native of Birmingham, has already hit a team-high nine home runs this season.

The total is a career-high for England and is tied for second on the school's single-season list. With one more home run, she would move into a tie for the single-season record at 10 with former Bulldog-great Shelley Stanley. Stanley set Samford's record with 10 home runs during the 2006 campaign.

England, who was recently named Samford's Golden Glove winner, has played very well at third base for the Bulldogs. This season, she only committed eight errors at the hot corner on 95 attempts.

Samford only needs to hit one more home run to tie the school's single-season record in the category with 30.

The Bulldogs have hit a total of 29 homers this year and have a good chance to tie the record mark which was set last season. Samford is also on pace to at least tie the school record in runs batted in. The Bulldogs have driven in 171 runs this year and only need four more RBI to tie the single-season record of 175 set in 2003.

The winner of Thursday's first-round Samford-Eastern Kentucky matchup in the 2008 OVC Tournament will advance to play second-seeded Morehead State at 3 p.m. The loser will have to work its way through the loser's bracket and will play Friday at 10 a.m.

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