Lady'Backs on the road to Texas A&M

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas softball team travels to College Station, Texas, for the Texas A&M Aggie Classic Feb. 16-18. The Lady Razorbacks take on tournament host No. 3 Texas A&M, Texas-San Antonio and Rutgers. On Friday, Arkansas plays back-to-back games against UTSA and Texas A&M beginning at 12:15 p.m. The Lady’Backs play the same teams Saturday at 10 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. Sunday, Arkansas competes against Rutgers at 10 a.m. After a 1-4 start at the season-opening South Florida Tournament last weekend, Arkansas looks to bounce back with a few more wins. “I think we hit the ball about as well as I could have expected, but the one glaring stat was our batting average with runners in scoring positions,” said head coach Jamie Pinkerton. “The encouraging thing is that we had base runners. I am real happy with the way we performed in the infield.” Freshman center fielder Jessica Bachkora batted .643 collecting nine hits, one RBI and two stolen bases. “I’ll take that performance every week,” said Pinkerton. “It was even better than I could have expected.” Freshman Miranda Dixon had the second highest batting average at .444. Sophomore Kayla Johnson hit the first home run of the season in the final game of the tournament. Senior Rachel LeMaster and Bachkora hit in every game over the weekend, posting a five-game hitting streak. Bachkora also had three multiple-hit games. This weekend Arkansas faces the third-ranked Texas A&M Aggies who in their first tournament upset No. 1 Arizona and also beat No. 4 Northwestern and No. 3 UCLA.. Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Arkansas 4-0 and won the last meeting in 2002 by a score of 6-2. The Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners post a 1-4 record in the 2007 season with their lone win coming against Texas State, 3-2. UTSA made it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season and returns nine letterwinners. The Roadrunners lead the series 1-0, winning the last meeting 3-2 in 1999. Rutgers opens its 2007 season this weekend. The Scarlet Knights return 15 letterwinners from last year’s squad that finished 15-37. For more information about Arkansas softball, please log on to LADYBACKS.COM.