Softball Closes Five Weeks on the Road at Wildcat Invitational

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

Wildcat Invitational
at Tucson, Ariz. (University of Arizona)

Friday, March 6

Boise State (12-8) Vs. SIUE (10-3) | 3 p.m. MT | Live Stats | FloSoftball

Saturday, March 7

Boise State Vs. Indiana (6-7) | 9 a.m. MT | Live Stats | FloSoftball
Boise State at No. 4/5 Arizona (17-3) | 2 p.m. MT | Live Stats | Pac-12 Network

Sunday, March 8

Boise State Vs. SIUE | 10 a.m. MT | Live Stats | FloSoftball
Boise State Vs. South Dakota (11-10) | 12:30 p.m. MT | Live Stats | FloSoftball

WHAT'S HAPPENING

♦ THIS WEEK: Boise State (12-8) travels for the fifth-straight week when the Broncos participate in the Wildcat Invitational at Tucson, Ariz., Friday through Sunday.
♦ FIELD: The field for the tournament includes: No. 4/5 Arizona, Boise State, Indiana, Southern Illinois Edwardsville (SIUE) and South Dakota.
♦ OPPONENTS: Boise State will play all four teams including SIUE twice. The Broncos are 3-5 all-time against the four teams it will face this weekend.
♦ LIVE STATS: You can follow the live stats of each match this weekend by using the links on the softball schedule page at BroncoSports.com.
♦ LIVE STREAM: You can watch all five games via live stream. All but the Arizona game will be on FloSoftball (subscription), the Arizona contest will be on the Pac-12 Network (free).

ON DECK

♦ Boise State (12-8) will return to Boise next week to host for the first time this season with the Mountain West Conference opening series versus No. 25/- Fresno State.

LEADING OFF

♦ Boise State is ranked 11th nationally for shutout victories on the year with seven ... over 50 percent of the Broncos' wins have been shutouts.
♦ The Broncos have outscored opponents 121-81 this season or about two runs per game ... the 121 runs scored ranks second in the Mountain West (MW).
♦ Boise State averages 6.1 runs per game which ranks first in the MW and 39th nationally.
♦ The Broncos are fourth in the MW for home runs hit with 14, New Mexico leads with 21.
♦ After four weeks, Boise State's batting average is .319 to ranked second in MW and 32nd nationally.
♦ The Broncos have hit 31 doubles this year, fourth in MW and 41st nationally.
♦ Boise State's slugging percentage of .476 is third in MW and 48th nationally.
♦ Kelsey Broadus leads the league and is third in the NCAA for complete game shutouts with four.
♦ Kelsey Broadus has seven wins on the year to rank third in MW and 30th in NCAA.
♦ Alison Seng is ranked third in the MW for batting average at .426 and Bradie Fillmore (.391) is eighth.
♦ Boise State's Ashlyn Adams is tied for eighth in the MW for runs scored with 14.
♦ Bradie Fillmore is tied for fourth in the MW for hits with 25.
♦ Karlee Johnson is seventh in the MW for RBIs with 17.
♦ Kelsey Lalor is tied for fourth in the MW for home runs hit with four.
♦ Alison Seng is ranked second in MW for putouts with 133, Serena Huchingson is ninth with 97.

BROADUS LOOKING FOR RECORD

♦ Senior Kelsey Broadus is 7-0 overall, four have been complete game shutouts, one a shared shutout.
♦ The four shutout victories gives Broadus 11 in her career, tying the school record.

MAKING HISTORY

♦ On Feb. 14 Boise State accomplished something rarely done before when they hit two grand slams in the sixth inning against No. 10 Kentucky.
♦ At the time it was only the sixth in NCAA DI history that two grand slams had been hit in an inning before.
♦ Strangely enough, Clemson did the same thing the next day hitting two grand slams against Maryland in the second inning.

GRAND SLAMS

♦ Boise State has hit three grand slams this season, one each by Serena Huchingson against UCSB (Feb.8), while both Jessica McKay and Karlee Johnson hits their's versus No. 10 Kentucky (Feb. 14).

LAST TIME OUT

♦ The Broncos went 3-2 last weekend at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif.
♦ Boise State earned victories over BYU (5-1), Loyola Marymount (6-4) and Grand Canyon (10-6).
♦ The two defeats were at the hands of Cal State Fullerton (3-1) and No. 3/3 Texas (6-2).
♦ The Broncos hit .315 as a team with 46 hits, and 24 runs scored, the team ERA was 4.03.
♦ Micaela Leal went 2-0 on the mound with an ERA of 1.91, struck out five and walked one in 11 innings pitched.
♦ Alison Seng had a team-high .467 batting average with seven hits, two RBIs and three runs scored ... Karlee Johnson hit .400 for seven hits, five RBIs and one run scored.

NATIONALLY RANKED OPPONENTS

♦ To date, Boise State has faced three nationally-ranked opponents going 0-3 versus the trio ... versus #10/10 Kentucky 16-14 (Feb. 14), at #22/23 Arizona State 8-0 (Feb. 16) and versus #3/3 Texas (March 1).
♦ In all, the Broncos will see six teams this season that are currently ranked in either the USA Today/NFCA or ESPN.com/USA Softball polls: #3/2 Texas, #4/5 Arizona, #10/10 Kentucky, #11/9 Oregon, #17/15 Arizona State and #25/- Fresno State.

THE SCOUTING REPORT

SIUE
♦ Boise State and SIUE (Southern Illinois Edwardsville) will meet at 3 p.m. (Mountain) on Friday in the Broncos tournament opener.
♦ This will be the first meeting between Boise State and SIUE.
♦ The Cougars from the Ohio Valley Conference enter the weekend at 10-3 overall. They have key wins over Chattanooga (5-2) and Miami (Ohio) by a 6-4 score... notable loss to MW Member UNLV (9-4).
♦ The team is batting .315, averaging 7.2 runs per game and has an ERA of 2.50.

INDIANA
♦ Boise State and the Big Ten's Indiana Hoosiers will face each other at 9 a.m. (MT) on Saturday.
♦ This will be the fifth meeting in the series which is tied at 2-2. The last time they met was Feb. 9, 2018 in Tempe, Ariz., where the Broncos won 7-6.
♦ The Hoosiers are 6-7 overall entering the week and have notable wins versus St. John's (10-2), Syracuse (4-3) St. Joseph's (5-0).
♦ As a team Indiana is hitting .265, averages 4.2 runs per game and has a team ERA of 4.15.

NO. 4/5 ARIZONA
♦ Boise State and No. 4/5 Arizona will have first pitch at 2 p.m. (MT) Saturday.
♦ The Broncos have met the Wildcats three times previously with Arizona winning each time. The last time they met was March 9, 2013 when the Wildcats swept a doubleheader 14-4 and 10-2 in Tucson.
♦ Arizona is 17-3 overall entering the weekend and have notable wins over then-No. 12 Tennessee (8-0), Long Beach State (2-1 and 6-0), then-No. 18 Missouri (2-0), San Diego State (10-0), twice versus then-No. 8 Alabama (2-1 and 6-5). Two of the three loses have come against nationally ranked teams at the time in No. 2 Oklahoma (6-4) and No. 7 Florida (3-2).
♦ Arizona is batting .313 as a team, averages 5.6 runs per game and has a team ERA of 1.85.

SOUTH DAKOTA
♦ Boise State will be face the South Dakota Coyotes on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (MT).
♦ The Broncos won the one previous encounter 11-3 in Tempe, Ariz., on Feb. 8, 2018.
♦ The Summit League's Coyotes are 11-10 overall entering the weekend with notable wins versus Northern Iowa (5-3), Murray State (9-8) and Georgetown (12-4).
♦ The Coyotes are hitting .295 as a team, averaging 4.8 runs per game and have an ERA of 4.36.